LETTERS £ 



THE REV. JOHN FLETCHER, 



VICAR OF MADELEY. 



ORIGINALLY EDITED 

BY REV. MELVILL HORNE ! 

CURATE OF MADELEY. 



PUBLISHED BY LANE & SCOTT, 

200 Mulberry-street. 
JOSEPH LONGKING. PRINTER. 

1849, 



PREFACE. 



The letters contained in this volume form 
part of a work edited by Rev. Melvill Home, 
and entitled " The Posthumous Works of the 
Rev. John Fletcher." He states in his Pre- 
face, that he was indebted to Mrs. Fletcher for 
the " Letters on the Manifestation of Christ," 
which were found in the handwriting of the 
author. He proceeds: — "When they were 
written, or to whom they were addressed, I 
cannot learn : but, from the beginning of the 
first letter, the decayed state of the manu- 
script, and the extreme smallness of the char- 
acter, (which could scarcely have been legi- 
ble to the Author in his latter years,) I judge 
them to have been the first essay of a genius 
afterward so much admired." 

The " Pastoral and Familiar Letters" cover 
a period extending from the time of Mr. 



4 



PREFACE. 



Fletcher's conversion to within a few days of 
his decease. They form an admirable pic- 
ture of the holy life and ardent devotion of 
this self-denying associate of John Wesley's la- 
bour ; of whom even Mr. Southey records, that 
" no age or country has ever produced a man 
of more fervent piety or more perfect charity; 
no church has ever possessed a more apos- 
tolic minister." As these sweet and spiritual 
Letters have been long out of print in any 
portable form, the publishers are doing a 
welcome service to the religious public in 
issuing the present neat and convenient 
edition. 

J. M'Clintock. 

March 20, 1849. 



CONTENTS. 



SIX LETTERS ON THE SPIRITUAL MANIFESTA- 
TION OF THE SON OF GOD. 



Preface Page 3 

Letter 1 13 

H 23 

IH 31 

IY 40 

V 48 

VI 60 

PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

I. To the Parishioners of Madeley 75 

II. To the Same 78 

HI. To Mrs. Mary Cartwright 83 

IY. To Mr. Michael Onions 85 

Y. To his Parishioners at Madeley 86 

YL To the Same 88 

YH. To Mr. William Wase - 93 

VOL To the Same 94 

IX. To Mr. Michael Onions 95 

X. To the Parishioners of Madeley 96 

XI. To Mr. Thomas York and Daniel Edmunds. . . 100 
Xn. To Mr. Jehu 103 

XIH. To Mr. William Wase 104 

XIY. To the Brethren who hear the word of God in 

the Parish Church of Madeley 105 



6 



CONTENTS. 



XV. To the Society at Madeley Page 109 

XVI. To the Societies in and about Madeley 109 

XVH. To the Rev. Mr. Greaves 110 

XVni. To Mr. Thomas York 112 

XIX. To Mr. William Wase 113 

XX. To the Brethren in and about Madeley 114 

XXI. To the Rev. Mr. Greaves 115 

XXII. To Mr. Michael Onions 116 

XXni. To Mr. Thomas York 118 

XXIV. To the Rev. Mr. Greaves 119 

XXV. To the Same 121 

XXVI. To Mr. William Wase 122 

XXVII. To the Rev. Mr. Greaves 123 

XXVIII. To Mr. William Wase 125 

XXIX. To Mr. Thomas York 126 

XXX. To the Societies in and about Madeley 126 

XXXI. To Mr. John Owen 127 

XXXn. To Mr. WiUiam Wase 129 

XXXIII. To Mr. Michael Onions 130 

XXXIV. To the Rev. John Wesley 132 

XXXV. To the Same 134 

XXXVI. To Mrs. Glynne 135 

XXXVH. To the Rev. Charles Wesley 138 

XXXVIII. To the Same 140 

XXXIX. To the Same 142 

XL. To the Same 144 

XLI. To the Same 145 

XLII. To the Same 146 

XLm. To the Same 148 

XLIV. To the Same 150 

XLV. To the Same 152 

XL VI. To Mrs. Ryan, and Miss Furley 154 

XL VII. To the Rev. Charles Wesley 155 

XLVm. To the Same 156 

XLIX. To the Hon. Mrs. 157 

L. To the Rev. Charles Wesley 160 



CONTENTS. | 

LI. To the Same Page 162 

LII. To the Same 163 

LHL To the Same 165 

LIY. To the Same 166 

LY. To the Same 167 

LYI. To the Same 169 

LYII. To the Same 170 

LYm. To Mr. Yaughan 171 

LIX. To the Eev. Charles Wesley 173 

LX. To Miss Hatton 174 

LXI. To the Eev. Charles Wesley 177 

LXII. To the Same 178 

LXHI. To Miss Hatton 180 

LXIY. To the Same 181 

LXY. To Mr. Samuel Hatton 182 

LXYI. To the Rev. Charles Wesley 183 

LXYII. To Miss Hatton 184 

LXYni. To the Same 185 

LXIX. To the Same 186 

LXX. To Mrs. Glynne 190 

LXXL To the Rev. Charles Wesley 191 

LXXH. To the Rev. Mr. Sellon , 193 

LXXIII. To Mr. Yaughan 194 

LXXIY. To Miss Hatton 195 

LXXY. To the Same. 198 

LXXYI. To the Same < 200 

LXXYH. To the Same 202 

LXX Yin. To the Same 203 

LXXIX. To the Same 204 

LXXX. To Mr. Alexander Mather 208 

LXXXI. To Miss Hatton 210 

LXXXH. To the Same 211 

LXXXIH. To the Same 213 

LXXXIY. To the Same 214 

LXXXY. To Miss Ireland 216 

LXXXYL To James Ireland, Esq.. 219 



a 



CONTENTS. 



LXXXVII. To Miss Hatton Page 222 

LXXXVIII. To the Same 224 

LXXXIX. To the Same 224 

XC. To Miss 226 

XCL To Miss Hatton 228 

XCH. To the Same 228 

XCIIL To Mrs. Hatton 231 

XCIV. To James Ireland, Esq 232 

XCY. To Miss Brain 233 

XCVI. To James Ireland, Esq 234 

XCVH. To the Same. 235 

XCVHI. To the Same 236 

XCIX. To the Same 237 

C. To Miss Ireland 239 

CI. To James Ireland, Esq 243 

CH. To the Same 244 

CIH. To the Same 245 

CIV. To the Same 246 

CV. To Mr. 247 

CYI. To the Rev. George Whitefield, London . . 248 
CVH. To the Rev. David Simpson, Macclesfield . 250 

CVin. To Mr. Henry Brooke 252 

CIX. To Mr. Vaughan 254 

CX. To James Ireland, Esq 255 

CXI. To the Same 257 

CXH. To the Same 259 

CXIH. To the Rev. Charles Wesley 261 

CXIY. To the Same 262 

CXY. To James Ireland, Esq. 263 

CXYI. To Mr. Vaughan 264 

CXVII. To the Rev. Charles Wesley 266 

CXVHI. To Mr. Charles Perronet 267 

CXIX. To James Ireland, Esq 268 

CXX. To the Same 269 

CXXI. To the Same 270 

CXXII. To the Rev. Charles Wesley 272 



CONTENTS. 9 

CXXIII. To the Rev. Vincent Perronet Page 273 

CXXIY. To Miss Perronet 274 

CXXV. To James Ireland, Esq 275 

CXXYI. To Mr. Greenwood 276 

CXXVIL To James Ireland, Esq 277 

CXXVni. To Miss Perronet 278 

CXXIX. To Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood 280 

CXXX. To the Same 281 

CXXXI. To Mrs. Thornton 282 

CXXX1X To the Same 283 

CXXXHI. To the Eight Hon. Lady Mary Fitzgerald. 286 
CXXXIV. To the Rev. Messrs. John and Charles 

Wesley 288 

CXXXY. To the Rev. Dr. Conyers 290 

CXXXVI. To Mr. William Perronet 292 

CXXXYn. To James Ireland, Esq 293 

CXXXVIII. To the Same 295 

CXXXIX. To the Same 297 

CXL. To Mr. Charles Greenwood 299 

CXLI. To Messrs. Hare, Terry, Fox, and Good, at 
Hull; and Messrs. Preston, Simpson, 

and Ramsden, at York 301 

CXLn. To a Nobleman 302 

CXLIII. To the Right Hon. Lady Mary Fitzgerald. 304 

CXLIV. To Miss Perronet 305 

CXLY. To the Right Hon. Lady Mary Fitzgerald. 306 

CXLYI. To the Honourable Mrs. C 308 

CXLYH. To the Right Hon. Lady Mary Fitzgerald. 311 

CXL YHI. To the Same 311 

CXLIX. To the Rev. Charles Wesley 314 

CL. To Mrs. Thornton 315 

CLI. To the Right Hon. Lady Mary Fitzgerald. 316 

CLn. To William Smyth, Esq 317 

CLIH. To the Society in Dublin 319 

CLIV. To Mrs. Dolier. 321 

CLY. To Mr. Henry Brooke , - . , . 322 



10 



CONTENTS. 



CLVI. To Mrs. Greenwood Page 324 

CLVH. To James Ireland, Esq 324 

CLVHL To Mr. John Fennel 326 

CLIX. To Mrs. Thornton 327 

CLX. To the Eight Hon. Lady Mary Fitzgerald 328 

CLXI. To the Same 329 

CLXII. To Mr. Henry Brooke 329 

CLXHI. To Mr. Melvill Home 332 

CLXIV. To James Ireland, Esq 333 



SIX LETTERS 

ON 

THE SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 

OF 

• THE SON OF GOD. 



I am not mad, mosl noble Festus ; but speak the words of truth and 
soberness. — Acts xxvi, 25. 
Wisdom is justified of her children. — Matt, xi, 19. 



LETTERS ON THE SPIRITUAL MANIFESTA- 
TION OF THE SON OF GOD. 



LETTER I. 

Sir, — When I had the pleasure of seeing you last, you 
seemed surprised to hear me say that the Son of God, for 
purposes worthy of his wisdom, manifests himself, sooner 
or later, to all his sincere followers, in a spiritual manner 
which the world knows not of. The assertion appeared to 
you unscriptural, enthusiastical, and dangerous. What I 
then advanced to prove that it was Scriptural, rational, and 
of the greatest importance, made you desire I would write 
to you on the mysterious subject. I declined it, as being 
unequal to the task ; but having since considered that a 
mistake here may endanger your soul and mine, I sit down 
to comply with your request : and the end I propose by it 
is, either to give you a fair opportunity of pointing out my 
error, if I am wrong ; or to engage you, if I am right, to 
seek what I esteem the most valuable of all blessings — 
revelations of Christ to your own soul, productive of the 
experimental knowledge of him, and the present enjoyment 
of his salvation. 

As an architect cannot build a palace unless he be allow- 
ed a proper spot to erect it upon, so I shall not be able 
to establish the doctrine I maintain unless you allow me the 
existence of the proper senses to which our Lord manifests 
himself. The manifestation I contend for being of a spirit- 
ual nature, must be made to spiritual senses ; and that such 



14 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



senses exist, and are opened in, and exercised by, regenerate 
souls, is what I design to prove in this letter, by the joint 
testimony of Scripture, our church, and reason. 

I. The Scriptures inform us that Adam lost the experi- 
mental knowledge of God by the fall. His foolish attempt 
to hide himself from his Creator, whose eyes are in every 
place, evidences the total blindness of his understanding. 
The same veil of unbelief which hid God from his mind, 
was drawn over his heart and all his spiritual senses. He 
died the death, the moral, spiritual death, in consequence 
of which the corruptible body sinks into the grave, and the 
unregenerate soul into hell. 

In this deplorable state Adam begat his children. We, 
like him, are not only void of the life of God, but alienated 
from it through the ignorance that is in us. Hence it is, 
that though we are possessed of such an animal and rational 
life, as he retained after the commission of his sin, yet we 
are, by nature, utter strangers to the holiness and bliss he 
enjoyed in a state of innocence. Though we have, in com- 
mon with beasts, bodily organs of sight, hearing, tasting, 
smelling, and feeling, adapted to outward objects ; though 
we enjoy, in common with devils, the faculty of reasoning 
upon natural truths and mathematical propositions ; yet we 
do not understand supernatural and divine things. Not- 
withstanding all our speculations about them, we can neither 
see nor taste them truly, unless we are " risen with Christ 
and taught of God." We may, indeed, speak and write 
about them, as the blind may speak of colours, and the deaf 
dispute of sounds, but it is all guesswork, hearsay, and mere 
conjecture. The things of the Spirit of God cannot be 
discovered but by spiritual, internal senses, which are, with 
regard to the spiritual world, what our bodily external 
senses are with regard to the material world. They are 
the only medium by which an intercourse between Christ 
and our souls can be opened and maintained. 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



15 



The exercise of these senses is peculiar to those who are 
born of God. They belong to what the apostles call " the 
new man, the inward man, the new creature, the hidden man 
of the heart.' ' In believers, this hidden man is awakened and 
raised from the dead by the power of Christ's resurrection. 
Christ is his life, the Spirit of God is his spirit, prayer or praise 
his breath, holiness his health, and love his element. We 
read of his hunger and thirst, food and drink, garment and 
habitation, armour and conflicts, pain and pleasure, fainting 
and reviving, growing, walking, and working. All this 
supposes senses, and the more these senses are quickened 
by God, and exercised by the new-born soul, the clearer 
and stronger is his perception of divine things. 

On the other hand, in unbelievers, the inward man is 
deaf, blind, naked, asleep, past feeling ; yea, dead in tres- 
passes and sins ; and of course as incapable of perceiving 
spiritual things, as a person in a deep sleep, or a dead man, 
of discovering outward objects. St. Paul's language to 
him is, " Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, 
and Christ shall give thee light." He calls him a natural 
man, one who hath no higher life than his parents conveyed 
to him by natural generation — one who follows the dictates 
of his own sensual soul, and is neither born of God, nor 
led by the Spirit of God. " The natural man," says the 
apostle, " receiveth not the things of the Spirit ; for they are 
foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because 
they are spiritually discerned." He has no sense properly 
exercised for this kind of discernment ; " his eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into his heart, the 
things which God hath prepared for them that love him." 

The reverse of the natural man is the spiritual, so called, be- 
cause God hath revealed spiritual things to him by his Spirit, 
who is now in him a principle of spiritual and eternal life. 
"The spiritual man," says the apostle, "judgeth [that is, 
discerneth] all things, yet he himself is discerned of no one." 



16 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



The high state he is in can no more be discerned by the 
natural man, than the condition of the natural man can be 
discerned by a brute. 1 Cor. ii, 10-15. 

St. Paul not only describes the spiritual man, but speaks 
particularly of his internal, moral senses. Christians, says 
he, of full age, by reason of use have their senses exercised 
to discern good and evil. Heb. v, 14. He prays that the 
love of the Philippians " may abound more and more in 
knowledge, and ev iraarj atadrjaet, in all sense or feeling. " 
Phil, i, 9. The Scriptures constantly mention or allude to 
one or other of these spiritual senses. Give me leave 
to produce some instances. 

1. To begin with the sight. St. Paul prays that, the eyes 
of his converts being enlightened, they might know what 
is the hope of their calling. He reminds them that 
Christ had been evidently set forth crucified before their 
eyes. He assures them that the god of this world hath 
blinded the eyes of them that believe not the gospel ; 
and declares that his commission was to open the eyes of the 
Gentiles, and turn them from darkness to light. Abra- 
ham saw Christ's day, and was glad. Moses persevered, 
as seeing Him who is invisible. David prayed, " Open 
my eyes that I may see wonders out of thy law." Our 
Lord complains that the heart of unbelievers is waxed 
gross, that their ears are dull of hearing, and that "they have 
closed their eyes ; lest they sjiould see with their eyes, un- 
derstand with their hearts, and be converted." He counsels 
the Laodiceans to anoint their eyes with eye-salve, that they 
might see. He declares that the world cannot receive the 
Spirit of truth, because it sees him not; that the things 
which belong to the peace of obstinate unbelievers are, at 
last, judicially hid from their eyes ; and that the pure 
in heart shall see God. St. John testifies that he who 
doeth evil hath not seen God ; and that darkness hath 
blinded the eyes of him that loves not his brother. The 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



IT 



Holy Ghost informs us that believers look at the things 
which are not seen, and behold the glory of God shining 
in the face of Jesus Christ. These are the eyes with 
which believers see the salvation of God. They are so 
distinct from those of the body, that when our Lord opened 
them in St. Paul's soul, he suffered scales to grow over his 
bodily eyes. And, no doubt, when Christ gave outward 
sight to the blind, it was chiefly to convince the world that 
it is he who can say to blind sinners, " Receive your sight ; 
see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living ; look 
unto me, and be saved." 

2. If you do not admit of a spiritual hearing, what can 
you make of our Lord's repeated caution, " He that hath 
an ear to hear, let him hear?" And what can be the 
meaning of the following scriptures : — " Hear, foolish 
people, who have ears, and hear not. Ye uncircumcised 
in heart and ears, ye cannot hear my words ; ye are of 
your father the devil." " He that is of God, heareth God's 
words ; ye, therefore, hear them not, because ye are not 
of God ?" Can it be supposed that our Lord spake of 
outward hearing, when he said, "The hour cometh, and 
now is, that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of 
God, and live." " My sheep hear my voice." " He that hath 
heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me?" Do 
not all sinners stand spiritually in need of Christ's power- 
ful Ephphatha, " Be thou opened ?" Is that man truly 
converted, who cannot witness with Isaiah, "The Lord 
hath wakened my ear to hear as the learned ?" and with 
the Psalmist, " Mine ears hast thou opened ?" Had not 
the believers at Ephesus heard Christ, and been taught 
of him? When St. Paul was caught up into the third 
heaven, did he not hear words unspeakable ? And, far 
from thinking spiritual hearing absurd or impossible, did 
he not question whether he was not then out of the body ? 
And does not St. John positively declare that he was "in 



18 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



the Spirit," when he heard Jesus say, "I am the first and 
the last ?" 

3. How void of meaning are the following passages, 
if they do not allude to that sense which is calculated for 
the reception of what the barrenness of human language 
compels me to call " spiritual perfumes !" — u The smell of 
thy ointments is better than all spices." "The smell of thy 
garments is like the smell of Lebanon." " All thy garments 
smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia; and because of the 
savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment 
poured forth." 

4. If believers have not a spiritual faculty of tasting 
divine things, what delusion must they be under, when 
they say Christ's fruit is sweet to their taste, and cry 
out, " How sweet are thy words to my taste ! they are 
sweeter than honey to my mouth !" But how justly can 
they speak thus if they have tasted the heavenly gift, 
and the good word of God, and, as new-born babes, de- 
sire the sincere milk of it ! Surely, if they eat the flesh 
of the Son of God, drink his blood, and taste that the Lord 
is gracious, they have a right to testify that his love is 
better than wine ; and to invite those that hunger and 
thirst after righteousness to taste that the Lord is good, 
that they also may be satisfied with his goodness and 
mercy, as with marrow and fatness. 

5. If we are not to be perfect Stoics in religion ; if we 
should have one degree more of devotion than the marble 
statues which adorn our churches ; we should have, I think, 
some feeling of our unworthiness, some sense of God's 
majesty. Christ's tender h£art was pierced to atone for, and 
to remove, the hardness of ours. God promises to take 
from us the heart of stone, and to give us a heart of flesh 
— a broken and contrite heart, the sacrifice of which he 
will not despise. Good King Josiah was praised because 
his heart was tender. The conversion of the three 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



19 



thousand on the Day of Pentecost began by their being 
pricked in their heart. We are directed to feel after God, 
if haply we may find him. Our Lord himself is not 
ashamed to be " touched" in heaven, "with a feeling of our 
infirmities. " And St.*Paul intimates, that the highest de- 
gree of obduracy and apostacy is to be past feeling, and 
to have our conscience seared as with a hot iron. 

I hope, sir, you will not attempt to set aside so many 
plain passages, by saying they are unfit to support a doc- 
trine, as containing empty metaphors, which amount just 
to nothing. This would be pouring the greatest contempt 
on the perspicuity of the oracles of God, the integrity of 
the sacred writers, and the wisdom of the Holy Ghost 
who inspired them. As certainly as there is a spiritual 
life, there are senses calculated for the display and enjoy- 
ment of it; and these senses exist no more in metaphor 
than the life that exerts itself by them. Our Lord settled 
the point when he declared to Nicodemus, that no man 
can see the kingdom of God — the kingdom of grace here 
and of glory hereafter — except he be first born of God, 
born of the Spirit ; just as no child can see this world, 
except he be first born of a woman, born of the flesh. 
Hence it appears that a regenerate soul hath its spiritual 
senses opened, and made capable of discerning what be- 
longs to the spiritual world ; as a new-born infant hath his 
natural senses unlocked, and begins to see, hear, and taste, 
what belongs to the material world into which he enters. 

II. These declarations of the Lord, his prophets, and 
apostles, need no confirmation. Nevertheless, to show 
you, sir, that I do not mistake their meaning, I shall add 
the testimony of our own excellent church. As she 
strictly agrees with the Scripture, she makes also frequent 
mention of spiritual sensations ; and you know, sir, that 
sensations necessarily suppose senses. She prays that 
God would " give us a due sense of his inestimable love 



20 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ." 
— Thanksgiving. She begs that he would "make us 
know and feel there is no other name than that of 
Jesus whereby we must be saved." — Office for the Sick. 
She affirms that true penitents feel " the burden of their 
sins intolerable," {Communion ;) that godly persons "feel 
in themselves the workings of Christ's Spirit," {Seventeenth 
Article ;) that " the Lord speaks presently to us in the 
Scriptures, to the great and endless comfort of all that 
have any feeling of God in them at all ;" that " godly men 
felt inwardly the Holy Ghost inflaming their hearts with 
the fear and love of God, and that they are miserable 
wretches who have no feeling of God within them at all !" 
[Horn, on Certain Places of Scripture ;) and that " if we 
feel the heavy burden of our sins pressing our souls, and 
tormenting us with the fear of death, hell, and damnation, 
we must steadfastly behold Christ crucified with the eyes 
of our heart." — Second Horn, on the Passions. 

Our church farther declares that " true faith is not in the 
mouth and outward profession only, but liveth and stirreth 
inwardly in the heart ;" and that "if we feel and perceive 
such a faith in us, we must rejoice," {Horn, on Faith, first and 
third part ;) that " correction, though painful, bringeth 
with it a taste of God's goodness," (Bom. on the Fear of 
Death, second part ;) that "if after our contrition we feel 
our consciences at peace with God, through the remission of 
our sin, it is God who worketh that great miracle in us ;" 
and she prays, that " as this knowledge and feeling is not 
in ourselves, and as by ourselves it is not possible to come 
by it, the Lord would give us grace to know these things, 
and feel them in our hearts." — Horn, for Rogation Week, 
third part. She begs that " God would assist us with his 
Holy Spirit, that we may hearken to the voice of the good 
Shepherd,". {Horn, on Repentance, second part ;) she sets us 
upon asking continually that the Lord would " lighten our 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



21 



darkness/' and deliver us from the two heaviest plagues 
of Pharaoh, — " blindness and hardness of heart." — Evening 
Prayer and Litany. And she affirms that " if we will be 
profitable hearers of the Scriptures, we must keep under 
our carnal senses, taken by the outward words, search the 
inward meaning, and give place to the Holy Ghost," whose 
peculiar office it is to open our spiritual senses, as he 
opened Lydia's heart. — Horn, on Certain Places of Scrip- 
ture. 

If I did not think the testimony of our blessed reformers, 
founded upon that of the sacred writers, of sufficient weight 
to turn the scale of your sentiments, I could throw in the 
declarations of many ancient and modern divines. To instance 
in two or three only : — St. Cyril, in the thirteenth book of his 
Treasure, affirms, that " men know Jesus is the Lord by 
the Holy Ghost, no otherwise than they who taste honey 
know it is sweet, even by its proper quality." Dr. Smith, 
of Queen's College, Cambridge, in his Select Discourses, 
observes, after Plotinus, that " God is best discerned voega 
rq acpxi, by an ' intellectual touch' of him." " We must," says 
he, " ' see with our eyes,' to use St. John's words, we must 
' hear with our ears, and our hands must handle the word 
of life,' ean yap ipvxw aioQeoic; rig, for the soul hath its 
sense as well as the body." And Bishop Hopkins, in his 
Treatise on the New Birth, accounts for the Papists deny- 
ing the knowledge of salvation, by saying, "It is no won- 
der that they who will not trust their natural senses in the 
doctrine of transubstantiation should not trust their spirit- 
ual ones in the doctrine of assurance." 

III. But instead of proving the point by multiplying 
quotations, let me entreat you, sir, to weigh the following 
observations in the balance of reason. 

1. Do not all grant there is such a thing as moral 
sense in the world ; and that to be utterly void of it, is to 
be altogether unfit for social life? If you had given a 



22 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS' 



friend the greatest proofs of your love, would not he be 
inexcusable if he felt no gratitude, and had absolutely no 
sense of your kindness ? Now, if moral sense and feeling 
are universally allowed between man and man in civil life, 
why should it appear incredible, or irrational, that there 
should be such a thing between God and man in the 
divine life ? 

% * * # * * * * * * 

4. To conclude. If material objects cannot be perceived 
by man in his present state but through the medium of one 
or other of his bodily senses ; by a parity of reason, spiritual 
objects cannot be discovered but through one or other of 
the senses which belong to the inward man. God being a 
Spirit, cannot be worshipped in truth, unless he be known 
in spirit. You may as soon imagine how a blind man, by 
reasoning on what he feels or tastes, can get true ideas of 
light and colours, as how one who has no spiritual senses 
opened, can, by all his reasoning and guessing, attain an 
experimental knowledge of the invisible God. 

Thus, from the joint testimony of Scripture, of our 
church, and of reason, it appears that spiritual senses are 
a blessed reality. I have dwelt so long on the proof of 
their existence for two reasons : — 

First. They are of infinite use in religion. Saving faith 
cannot subsist and act without them. If St. Paul's defi- 
nition of that grace be just; if it be "the substance of 
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ;" it must 
be a principle of spiritual life more or less attended with 
the exercise of these senses according to the poetic and 
evangelical lines of Dr. Young :— 

" My heart awake 
Feels the great truths : to feel is to be fired, 
And to believe, Lorenzo, is to feel." 

Till professors see the necessity of believing in this man- 
ner, they rest in a refined form of godliness. To the 



OF THE SOX OF GOD. 



23 



confidence of the Antinomians, they may, indeed, join the 
high profession of the foolish virgins. They may even 
crown their partial assent to the truths of the gospel with 
the zeal of Pharisees and the regularity of moralists ; but 
still they stop short of the new creation, the new birth, 
the life of God in the soul of man. Nay, more, they 
stumble at some of the most important truths of Chris- 
tianity, and think the discoveries that sound believers have 
of Christ and the spiritual world are enthusiastic al delusions, 
or, at least, extraordinary favours, which they can very 
well do without. Thus, even while they allow the power 
of godliness in others, they rest satisfied without experi- 
encing it in themselves. 

Secondly. What I shall write will depend very much on 
the existence of spiritual senses ; and if this letter convince 
you that they are opened in every new-born soul, you will 
more easily believe Christ can and does manifest himself by 
that proper medium ; and my letters on Divine Manifesta- 
tions will meet with a less prejudiced reader. 

That Emmanuel, the light of the world, may direct me 
to write with soberness and truth, and you to read with 
attention and candour, is the sincere prayer of, sir, 

Yours, (fee. 



LETTER. II. 

Sir, — Having proved in my first letter the existence of the 
spiritual senses, to which the Lord manifests himself, I 
shall now enter upon that subject, by letting you know, as 
far as my pen can do it, — 

L What is the nature of that manifestation which makes 
the believer more than conqueror over sin and death. 

1. Mistake me not, sir, for the pleasure of calling me 
"enthusiast." I do not insist, as you may imagine, upon a 



24 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



manifestation of the voice, body, or blood of our Lord, to 
our external senses. Pilate heard Christ's voice, the Jews 
saw his body, the soldiers handled it, and some of them 
were literally sprinkled with his blood ; but this answered 
no spiritual end : they knew not God manifest in the flesh. 

2. ISTor do I understand such a knowledge of our 
Redeemer's doctrine, offices, promises, and performances, as 
the natural man can attain by the force of his understand- 
ing and memory. All carnal professors, all foolish virgins, 
by conversing with true Christians, hearing gospel sermons, 
and reading evangelical books, attain to the historical and 
doctrinal knowledge of Jesus Christ. Their understandings 
are informed ; but, alas ! their hearts remain unchanged. 
Acquainted with the letter, they continue ignorant of the 
Spirit. Boasting, perhaps, of the greatness of Christ's sal- 
vation, they remain altogether unsaved ; and full of talk 
about what he hath done for them, they know nothing of 
" Christ in them, the hope of glory." 

3. Much less do I mean such a representation of our 
Lord's person and sufferings as the natural man can form 
to himself by the force of a warm imagination. Many, by 
seeing a striking picture of Jesus bleeding on the cross, or 
hearing a pathetic discourse on his agony in the garden, are 
deeply affected and melted into tears. They raise in them- 
selves a lively idea of a great and good man unjustly 
tortured to death : their soft passions are wrought upon, 
and pity fills their heaving breasts. But, alas ! they remain 
strangers to the revelation of the Son of God by the Holy 
Ghost. The murder of Julius Caesar, pathetically described, 
would have the same effect upon them as the crucifixion 
of Jesus Christ. A deep play would touch them as easily 
as a deep sermon, and much to the same purpose ; for in 
either case their impressions and their tears are generally 
wiped away together. 

4. Nor yet do I understand good desires, meltings of 



OF THE SON OF GOD, 



25 



heart, victories over particular corruptions, a confidence 
that the Lord can and will save us, power to stay ourselves 
on some promises, gleams of joy, rays of comfort, enlivening 
hopes, touches of love ; no, not even foretastes of Christian 
liberty, and of the good word of God. These are rather 
the delightful drawings of the Father, than the powerful 
revelation of the Son. These (like the star that led the 
wise men for a time, then disappeared, and appeared again) 
are helps and encouragements to come to Christ, and not 
a divine union with him, by the revelation of himself. 

I can more easily tell you, sir, what this revelation is not, 
than what it is. The tongues of men and angels want 
proper words to express the sweetness and glory with 
which the Son of God visits the souls that cannot rest with- 
out him. This blessing is not to be described, but enjoyed. 
It is to be " written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the 
living God ; not on" paper or " tables of stone, but in the 
fleshly tables of the heart." May the Lord himself explain 
the mystery, by giving you to eat of the hidden manna, 
and bestowing upon you the new name, which no man 
knows save he that receives it ! In the mean time take a 
view of the following rough draft of this mercy ; and, if it be 
agreeable to the letter of the word, pray that it may be en- 
graved on your heart by the power of the Spirit. 

The revelation of Christ, by which a carnal professor 
becomes a holy and happy possessor of the faith, is a super- 
natural, spiritual, experimental manifestation of the Spirit, 
power, and love, and sometimes of the person of God 
manifest in the flesh, whereby he is known and enjoyed 
in a manner altogether new : as new as the knowledge that 
a man, who never tasted anything but bread and water, 
would have of honey and wine, suppose, being dissatisfied 
with the best descriptions of those rich productions of 
nature, he actually tasted them for himself. 

This manifestation is, sooner or later, in a higher or lower 
2 



26 SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 

degree, vouchsafed to every sincere seeker, through the 
medium of one or more of the spiritual senses opened in his 
soul, in a gradual or instantaneous manner, as it pleases 
God. No sooner is the veil of unbelief which covers the 
heart, rent, through the agency of the Spirit, and the efforts 
of the soul struggling into a living belief of the word ; no 
sooner, I say, is the door of faith opened, than Christ, who 
stood at the door and knocked, comes in, and discovers 
himself full of grace and truth. Then the tabernacle of 
God is with man. His kingdom comes with power. 
Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, spread 
through the new-born soul ; eternal life begins ; heaven is 
open on earth ; the conscious heir of glory cries, " Abba, 
Father and from blessed experience can witness that he 
is come to " Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, 
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company 
of angels ; to the general assembly and church of the first 
born which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of 
all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to 
J esus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of 
sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of 
Abel." 

If this manifestation be duly improved, the effects of it 
are admirable. The believer's heart, now set at liberty from 
the guilt and dominion of sin, and drawn by the love of 
Jesus, pants after greater conformity to his holy *will,' 
and mounts up to him in prayer and praise. His life is a 
course of cheerful, evangelical obedience ; and his most 
common actions become good works, done to the glory of 
God. If he walk up to his privileges, outward objects 
entangle him no more. Having found the great I AM, the 
eternal substance, he looks upon all created things as 
shadows. Man, the most excellent of all, appears to him 
" altogether lighter than vanity." " Yea, doubtless, he counts 
all things but loss for the exrellency of the knowledge of 



OF THE SON OF GOD, 



27 



Christ Jesus his Lord ; esteeming them but dung, that he 
may win Christ, and, to the last, be found in him, not 
having his own righteousness, but that which is through 
the faith of Christ :" that by new discoveries of himself he 
may know him and the power of his resurrection every 
day more clearly. In the mean time he casts his sins and 
miseries upon Jesus, and Jesus bestows his righteousness 
and happiness upon him. He puts on Christ, and be- 
comes a partaker of the divine nature. Thus they are 
mutually interested in each other ; and, to use St. Paul's 
endearing expressions, they are espoused and married. 
Joined by the double band of redeeming love and saving 
faith, they are one spirit, as Adam and Ev r e by mat- 
rimony were one flesh. " This is a great mystery," says 
the apostle ; but, thanks be to God ! it is made manifest to 
his saints. Eph. v, 32. 

II. If you ask, "Sir, how can these things be? De- 
scribe to me the particular manner of these manifestations ;" 
I reply, in our Lord's words to "Nicodemus, " Art thou a 
master in Israel," nay more, a Christian, "and knowest not 
these things ?" " Verily I say unto you," though we cannot 
fix the exact mode and precise manner of the breathing of 
the Spirit, yet " we speak what we do know, and testify 
what we have seen ; but you receive not our witness." Mar- 
vel not, however, if we find it impossible to tell you all the 
particulars of a divine manifestation. You yourself, though 
you feel the wind, see its amazing effects, and hear the 
sound of it, cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it 
goeth ; much less could you describe it to the satisfaction 
of one who never heard or felt it himself. Many earthly 
things cannot be conceived by earthly men. The blind, for 
example, can never conceive the difference of colours ; what 
wonder then if natural men do not understand us when we 
tell them of heavenly things ? 

Nevertheless, I would, in general, observe, that the man- 



28 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



ner in which the manifestation of the Son of God is vouch- 
safed, is not the same in all persons, nor in the same person 
at all times. " The wind bloweth where it listeth," much 
more the Spirit of the living God. His thoughts are not 
as our thoughts ; he dispenseth his blessings, not as we 
expect them, but as it pleases him. Most commonly, 
however, the sinner, driven out of all his refuges of lies, 
feels an aching void in his soul. Unable to satisfy himself 
any longer with the husks of empty vanity, dry morality, 
and speculative Christianity ; and tired with the best form 
of godliness which is not attended with the power of it, he 
- is brought to a spiritual famine, and hungers after heavenly 
food. Convinced of unbelief, he feels the want of the faith 
of God's operation. He sees that nothing short of an 
immediate display of the Lord's arm can bring his soul 
into the kingdom of God, and fill it with righteousness, 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Sometimes, encouraged 
by lively hopes, he struggles into liberty of heart, and 
prays with groanings which cannot be uttered. At other 
times, almost sinking under a burden of guilty fear, or stupid 
unbelief, he is violently tempted to throw away his hope, 
and go back to Egypt ; but an invisible hand supports him, 
and, far from yielding to the base suggestion, he resumes 
courage, and determines to follow on to know the Lord, 
or to die seeking him. Thus he continues wandering up 
and down in a spiritual wilderness, until the Lord gives him 
the rest of faith, " the substance of things hoped for, the 
evidence of things not seen." 

This evidence comes various ways. Sometimes the spi- 
ritual eye is first opened, and chiefly, though not only, 
wrought upon. Then the believer, in a divine transforming 
light, discovers God in the man Christ, perceives unspeak- 
able glories in his despised person, and admires infinite 
wisdom, power, justice, and mercy, in the blood of the cross. 
He reads the Scriptures with new eyes. The mysterious book 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



29 



is unsealed, and everywhere testifies of Him whom his soul 
loves. He views experimentally, as well as doctrinally, the 
suitableness of the Redeemer's offices, the firmness of his 
promises, the sufficiency of his righteousness, the precious- 
ness of his atonement, and the completeness of his salvation. 
He sees and feels his interest in all. Thus he beholds, be- 
lieves, wonders, and adores. Sight being the noblest sense, 
this sort of manifestation is generally the brightest. 

Perhaps his spiritual ear is first opened, and that voice, 
which raiseth the dead, " Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven 
thee," passes with power through his waiting soul. He 
knows, by the gracious effect, it is the voice of Him who 
said once, " Let there be light, and there was light." He is 
sensible of a new creation, and can say, by the testimony 
of God's Spirit, bearing witness with his spirit, " This is 
my Beloved's voice ; he is mine, and I am his." I have 
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of my 
sins : and having much forgiven, he loves much, and obeys 
in proportion. 

Frequently also Christ manifests himself first and chiefly 
to the spiritual feeling. He takes the burden of guilt, 
dejection, and sin, from the heavy-laden soul ; and, in the 
room of it, imparts a strong sense of liberty, peace, love, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. The ransomed sinner, enabled 
to overcome racking doubts or dull insensibility, believes 
now with the heart unto righteousness, and makes con- 
fession with the mouth unto salvation. "Surely," says he, 
" in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. This is 
the finger of God. This day is salvation come to my 
soul. None but Jesus could do this for me. The Lord 
he is God ; he is my Lord and my God." This manifesta- 
tion is generally the lowest, as being made to a lower sense ; 
therefore great care ought to be taken not to confound it 
with the strong drawings of the Father, on which it borders. 
Some babes in Christ, who, like young Samuel, have not yet 



30 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



their senses properly exercised to know the things freely- 
given to them of Grod, are often made uneasy on this very 
account. Nor can they he fully satisfied, until they find the 
effects of this manifestation are lasting, or they obtain clearer 
ones by means of the nobler senses — the sight or hearing 
of the heart. 

III. Though I contend only for those discoveries of 
Christ which are made by the internal senses, because such 
only are promised to all ; yet I cannot, without contradict- 
ing Scripture, deny that the external senses have been 
wrought upon in some manifestations. When Abraham saw 
his Saviour's day, he was, it seems, allowed to wash his feet 
with water, (Gen. xviii, 4,) as afterward the penitent harlot 
did with her tears. And Saul, in his way to Damascus, 
saw Jesus's glory and heard his voice, both externally and 
internally ; for they " that journeyed with him saw the light, 
and heard a voice," though they could not distinguish the 
words which were spoken. 

Sometimes also manifestations, though merely internal, 
have appeared external to those who were favoured with 
them. When the Lord called Samuel, in Shiloh, the pious 
youth supposed the call was outward, and ran to Eli, say- 
ing, " Thou calledst me ;" but it seems the voice had struck 
his spiritual ear only, otherwise the high priest, who was 
within hearing, would have heard it as well as the young 
prophet. And though Stephen steadfastly looked up to 
heaven, as if he really saw Christ there with his bodily 
eyes, it is plain he discovered him only with those of his 
faith ; for the roof of the house where the court was held 
bounded his outward sight ; and had Christ appeared in 
the room, so as to be visible to common eyes, the council 
of the Jews would have seen him, as well as the pious 
prisoner at the bar. 

Hence we learn, 1st. That the knowledge of spiritual 
things, received by spiritual sense, is as clear as the know- 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



31 



ledge of natural things, obtained by bodily sense. 2dly. That 
it is sometimes possible to be doubtful, whether the outward 
eye or ear is not concerned in particular revelations : since 
this was not only the case of Samuel, but of St. Paul him- 
self, who could not tell whether the unspeakable words he 
heard in paradise struck his bodily ears, or only those of his 
soul. 3dly. That no stress is to be laid upon the external 
circumstances which have sometimes accompanied the reve- 
lation of Christ. If aged Simeon had been as blind as old 
Isaac, and as much disabled from taking the child Jesus in 
his arms as the paralytic, the internal revelation he had of 
Christ could have made him say, with the same assurance, 
" Now, Lord, let thy servant depart in peace ; for mine eyes 
have seen thy salvation/' If the apostle had not been struck 
to the ground, and his eyes dazzled by outward light, his 
conversion would not have been less real, provided he had 
been inwardly humbled and enlightened. And if Thomas, 
waiving the carnal demonstration he insisted upon, had ex- 
perienced only in his inner man that Christ is the resurrec- 
tion and the life, he could have confessed him with as great 
a consciousness he was not mistaken, as when he cried out, 
" My Lord, and my God !" 

I am, sir, yours, &c. 



LETTER III. 

IV. Why the Lord manifests himself to the children of 
men, is an important question, which I now come to con- 
sider. It is not, we may easily think, for the gratification 
of their curiosity, but for purposes worthy of his wisdom : 
and what these are, we shall soon learn, if we reduce divine 
manifestations to three general classes, extraordinary, ordi- 
nary, and mixed ones ; and then consider the design and 
use of each, as they may be collected from Scripture. 



32 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



1. To begin with manifestations of the extraordinary kind : 
they are such as are either merely external, or vouchsafed 
to a few only on particular occasions, and are by no 
means essential to salvation. 

(1.) Some of these are calculated to rouse the thoughtless 
into consideration. Of this kind was the manifestation some 
were favoured with, a little before our Lord's passion : " As 
he prayed, there came a voice from heaven, saying, I have 
glorified my name, and will glorify it again. The people 
that stood by and heard it, said it thundered !" They looked 
upon the extraordinary call as something common and na- 
tural : " Others said, An angel spake to him. But Jesus 
said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes." 

(2.) Others are intended as a last warning to notorious 
sinners. Of this nature was the terrifying sight Nebuchad- 
nezzar had, in his second dream of "a Watcher and Holy 
One coming down from heaven, and crying aloud, Cut down 
the tree ;" and that of the mysterious hand which wrote 
Belshazzar's doom on the wall, while he profaned the sacred 
vessels in his night revels. 

(3.) Some are designed for the protection of God's people, 
and the destruction or humiliation of their proud enemies : 
as when the "Lord looked to the Egyptians, through the pillar 
of fire, and troubled their host ;" when " he cast down great 
stones from heaven" upon the armies of the five kings, who 
fought against Israel ; or when he manifested his presence 
in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, to quench the violence of the 
flame, preserve the three confessors, and convince the raging 
tyrant that God's kingdom ruleth over all. 

(4.) The design of others is to encourage the children of 
God in dangerous enterprises, or direct them in important 
steps. Of this kind was that to Joshua, before he began 
the conquest of Canaan ; and that to St. Paul, when the 
Lord stood by him in the prison, and informed him he 
must bear witness to him also at Rome. 



OP THE SON OF GOD. 



33 



(5.) Some are calculated to appoint some persons to un- 
common services and trials, or to the prophetic and ministe- 
rial office : as that in which Noah was commissioned to 
build the ark, Abraham to offer up Isaac, Moses to deliver 
Israel, Nathan to reprove David, Balaam to bless Israel, and 
Jeremiah to preach to the Jews. 

(6.) Others again are designed to answer providential ends 
for the deliverance of the people of God, as those of Gideon ; 
or spiritual ends of reproof, instruction, and consolation to 
the church throughout all ages, as most of the revelations 
vouchsafed to the prophets, and to St. John. 

2. The manifestations essential either to the conversion 
of sinners, or edification of saints, and which the word of 
God and the experiences of Christians show to be common 
to all believers in all ages of the church, are of the ordinary- 
kind, and their use or design is, 

(1.) To make the word spirit and life, " quick and power- 
ful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the 
dividing asunder soul and spirit," that the gospel may not 
come to sinners " in word only, but also in power, and in 
the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." 

(2.) To ease an anguished conscience, and impart the 
peace of God to a troubled mind : as in the case of broken- 
hearted David, mourning Hezekiah, weeping Peter, and Paul 
agonizing in prayer. 

(3.) To reveal Christ to us, and in us, so as to make us 
savingly believe, and know in whom we have believed, 
according to the experiences of Peter, Lydia, Cornelius, and 
every living member of Christ. 

(4.) To open a blessed intercourse, and keep up a delight- 
ful communion with Christ ; as appears from the experiences 
of believers illustrated in the Canticles. 

(5.) To silence the remains of self-righteousness, and 
deepen the humiliation of our souls ; as in the case of Job. 
To make us grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord 

2* 



34 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



Jesus Christ. To bruise Satan under our feet, yea, to 
bruise the serpent's head in our hearts, and seal the ex- 
ceeding great and precious promises given to us, that we 
might be partakers of the divine nature, and continue im- 
movable, always abounding in the work of faith, the patience 
of hope, and the labour of love. In a word, to " strengthen 
us with might, by God's Spirit, in the inner man, that Christ 
may dwell in our hearts by faith, and we may be filled with 
all the fulness of Cod." 

(6.) To prepare us for great trials, support us under them, 
and comfort us after them. This was our Lord's experience 
before his temptation, after he had overcome the tempter, 
and when he was in the height of his agony. This was also 
the case of David, St. Paul, and of all the apostles, w^hen 
they had been scourged for the name of Jesus ; and it is 
still the case of all true and deep mourners in Sion. 

(7.) And, lastly, to make us depart in peace, as Simeon; 
or die in perfect love with our enemies, and in the full 
triumph of faith, as St. Stephen. All who live and die in 
the Lord, partake, more or less, of these ordinary displays 
of his powerful presence ; and I desire you, sir, to remem- 
ber, that it is chiefly, if not only, in support of these im- 
portant manifestations, I take up the pen. 

3. The third class of manifestations is that of "mixed 
ones ;" so called, because they are partly extraordinary, and 
partly ordinary. Some are ordinary in their design, and 
extraordinary in their circumstances. Of this sort was 
the manifestation to the apostles. Acts iv, 31. The design 
of it was merely common ; that is, to comfort them under 
contempt, and encourage them to do good and suffer 
evil : but the shaking the place where they were 
assembled was an uncommon circumstance. The same 
thing may be said of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the 
one hundred and twenty, who were assembled in the upper 
room on the. Day of Pentecost ; and, some time after, upon 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



85 



Cornelius and his soldiers. That they should be baptized 
with the Holy Ghost and spiritual fire was not extraor- 
dinary, since it is the common blessing which can alone 
make a man a Christian, or confirm him in the faith ; but 
that the sound of a rushing wind should be heard, and 
luminous appearances seen resting upon them, and that they 
should have been enabled to speak the wonderful works of 
God in other tongues, were uncommon circumstances 
attending their spiritual baptism. 

Some manifestations are mixed, both as to their design and 
circumstances. That the iniquity of Isaiah should be put 
away, and St. Paul converted, were not uncommon things ; 
they are the common effects of ordinary manifestations : 
but that the prophet should be commissioned to preach to 
the Jews, and the apostle to open the eyes of the Gentiles, 
were extraordinary circumstances ; as also a flying cherub 
appearing to the one, and a light brighter than the sun 
blinding the other. 

For want of distinguishing properly between what is 
ordinary and extraordinary in mixed manifestations, persons 
who are not possessed of a clear head, or, what is worse, of 
an honest heart, conclude that none but enthusiasts speak 
now of divine manifestations. If they hear it affirmed 
they must be converted as well as St. Paul, they pertly ask 
whether they are Jews, and whether they must be struck to 
the earth by a voice from heaven. They wilfully forget 
that our Lord spake to his hearers as sinful men, and not 
as bigoted Jews, when he said, " Except ye be converted, 
ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." They 
obstinately refuse to see that the circumstances of the 
apostle's falling to the ground, &c, were not essential to 
his conversion, and had no other use than to make his call 
more remarkable for the conversion of the Jews and com- 
fort of the Christians. When the same prejudiced persons 
are told that they must be born of the Spirit, and receive 



36 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



the Holy Ghost, as well as Cornelius and his servants; 
overlooking the ordinary baptism of the Spirit, they pitch 
upon the extraordinary circumstance of the gift of tongues, 
imparted for a season, to remove the prejudices of the Jews, 
and to draw the attention of the Gentiles ; and think with 
a sneer and a charge of enthusiasm to overturn the 
apostolic saying, " If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, 
he is none of his." Be not deceived, sir, by these persons. 
Acknowledge, that so sure as you want the regenerating 
knowledge of Christ, you want the manifestation of his 
Spirit, without which he can never be known savingly. To 
return : 

Though I contend only for the ordinary manifestations of 
Christ, I am far from supposing that all extraordinary or 
mixed manifestations have ceased. Such a concession 
would savour too much of the spirit of infidelity which 
prevails in the church. They are more frequent than 
many imagine. To instance in one particular how far I am 
from acquiescing with that infidel spirit, I am so attached 
to that old book, the Bible, as to say of many, who pass for 
ministers of Christ, "Wo to the foolish prophets,- that 
follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing ; that say, 
The Lord says, and the Lord hath not sent them." I think 
the desire of being styled "reverend," or "right reverend," 
and the prospect of a living or a mitre, are very improper 
motives for assuming the sacred character. And I am such 
an enthusiast as to believe our church in the right for re- 
quiring that all her ministers should not only be called, but 
even moved, by the Holy Ghost, to take the office of 
ambassador for Christ upon themselves. ( Ordination.) 

V. Having mentioned the design and use of ordinary 
manifestations, it may not be improper to touch upon the 
abuse of them. Their genuine tendency is to humble to the 
dust. The language of those who are favoured with them 
is, " Will God indeed dwell on the earth ?" " Lord, what is 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



37 



man, that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man, 
that thou visitest him ?" " Now that I see thee, I abhor 
myself. I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies. I 
am dust and ashes." But as there is nothing which the 
heart of man cannot be tempted to corrupt and pervert, so, 
as soon as the power attending the manifestation is a little 
abated, Satan begins to shoot his fiery darts of spiritual 
pride : " You are a peculiar favourite of Heaven," whispers 
that old serpent ; " few are so highly blessed. All your 
enemies are scattered ; you need not be so watchful in 
prayer, and so strict in self-denial ; you shall never fall." 
If the believer is not upon his guard, and quenches not 
these fiery darts with his shield, as fast as the enemy throws 
them, he is soon wounded, and pride kindles again upon 
him. 

St. Paul himself was in danger from this quarter : " There 
was given him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, 
to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure, 
through the abundance of the revelations." Aaron and 
Miriam fell into this snare, when they spake against Moses, 
saying, " Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses ? 
Hath he not spoken by us also ?" David likewise acknow- 
ledges his error in this respect : " In my prosperity, I said, 
I shall never be moved ; thou, Lord, of thy goodness, hast 
made my hill so strong :" but my heart was lifted up, and 
my confidence partly carnal ; therefore " thou didst turn 
thy face from me, and I was troubled." The way to avoid 
the danger is to foresee it ; to look much to the lowly Jesus, 
and upon the first approach of a temptation to pride, to 
give, with double diligence, all the glory to Him that 
graciously bestowed all ; and to take, with double care, all 
the shame of our sins to ourselves. St. Paul's direction in 
this case is excellent: "Because of unbelief some were 
broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, 
but fear." 



38 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



Another genuine effect of divine manifestations is an 
increase of confidence in the Lord, and of activity in his 
service. What holy boldness filled the souls of those 
worthies, who, " through faith, wrought righteousness, and 
turned to flight the armies of the aliens !" How did the 
love of Christ constrain the disciples to speak and act for 
God after the Day of Pentecost ! Nothing could exceed 
their fortitude and diligence. Nevertheless, if the tempta- 
tion to pride is yielded to, the Comforter is grieved, and 
carnal security, indolence of spirit, and indulgence of the 
flesh, insensibly prevail. The deluded professor, though 
shorn of his strength, like Sampson, fancies himself the 
same. "Soul," says he, "thou hast goods laid up for 
many years, even for ever: though the Lord manifest 
himself to thee no more, be neither uneasy nor afraid ; he 
changes not/' Sometimes the delusion grows to that height, 
that the farther he goes from the kingdom of God, the strong- 
er he imagines his faith. He even speaks contemptuously of 
that kingdom. He calls "righteousness, peace, and joy in 
the Holy Ghost," " a frame, a sensible feeling," alow dispen- 
sation, beyond which he has happily got. He thanks God 
he can now rest upon4he bare word, without an application 
of it to his heart ; that is to say, he can be fully satisfied 
with the letter without the Spirit, — he can feed upon the 
empty husks of notions and opinions, as if they were power 
and life. 

The end of this dreadful mistake is generally a relapse 
into gross sin. Witness the falls of David and Solomon ; 
or, what is not much better, a settling in a form without 
the power of godliness, as the Laodiceans of old, and too 
many now, who have a name to live, and are dead. The 
only way to avoid this precipice is to follow the light of the 
first manifestation, and look daily for new visits from Christ, 
till he makes his abode with us, and we walk in the 
light as he is in the light. A manifestation of the Spirit 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



39 



last year will no more support a soul this year, than air 
breathed yesterday will nourish the flame of life to-day. 
The sun which warmed us last week must shine again this 
week. . Old light is dead light. A notion of old warmth is 
a very cold notion. We must have fresh food daily ; and 
though we need not a new Christ, we need, perpetually, 
new displays of his eternal love and power. The Lord 
taught us this important lesson, by making the manna he 
gave Israel in the wilderness to disappear every day, and 
causing that which was not gathered fresh to breed worms, 
and stink. Nevertheless, as the mysterious food kept 
sweet in the golden pot in the ark, so does the heavenly 
power in Christ, to whom every true Israelite will come 
daily for new supplies of hidden manna, for fresh manifes- 
tations of the Holy Spirit. Thousands, by not considering 
this, seek the living among the dead ; fancying that a living 
Saviour is to be found in dead experiences, and that all is 
well, though they live after the flesh, and are, perhaps, 
led captive by the devil at his will. But when their 
souls awake out of this dangerous dream, they will be 
sensible of their mistake, and frankly acknowledge, " God 
is not the God of the dead, but of the living ;" and that, 
"if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, 
through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the 
latter end is worse with them than the beginning." 

Leaving these lukewarm, formal Laodicean professors to 
the mercy of God, I subscribe myself, sir, 

Yours, &c. 



40 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



LETTER IV. 

Sir, — VI. That some persons are blessed with clearer, 
stronger, or earlier manifestations than others, is undeniable ; 
and why it is so is one of the mysteries of God's kingdom 
that shall not be explained until the day of judgment. In 
the mean time, the following reflections may possibly cast 
some light on that dark subject, and help us to say, " He 
doeth all things well." 

L Our Lord suits the manifestations of himself to the 
various states of the church. Under the Mosaic dispensa- 
tion, which consisted much in externals, divine manifesta- 
tions had, generally, some external circumstances ; but the 
Christian church, being formed upon a more spiritual plan, 
is favoured with revelations of a more spiritual and internal 
nature. 

2. The Lord considers us as rational creatures in a state 
of probation. Were he to indulge us with powerful, in- 
cessant, overwhelming discoveries of himself, he would 
rather violently force than gently lead us to repentance and 
obedience. Every day is not a day of pentecost. Soon 
after the Son of God had seen the heavens open, he was 
led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil ; and 
so is his spouse after him. Hosea ii, 14. St. Paul 2 by 
observing that he was not disobedient to the heavenly 
vision, and that he kept his body under, lest he should 
become a castaway, intimates that his bright manifestation 
was not of such continuance and force but he might have 
disobeyed, as Jonah did in a similar case. Some have, in 
fact, resisted bright manifestations in their day; witness 
Cain, Judas, Balaam, Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, and the 
Israelites who perished in the wilderness : and too many 
backsliders are resisting them now. So sure, then, as there 
is a time of trial for faith, hope, and patience, there is also 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



41 



an abatement of the power which attends divine mani- 
festations. 

3. Our wise Redeemer proportions the means to the end. 
If the effect of the manifestation of his love is to be exceed- 
ing great, the manifestation must be exceeding bright. 
Suppose the burden of guilt and hardness, temptation and 
sorrow, under which one groans, is ten times greater than 
that which oppresses another, it is plain, the manifestation 
which is to remove the tenfold weight is to be ten times 
stronger. The same rule holds also with regard to suffer- 
ings and labours. The hotter the fight of afflictions 
God's children are to go through, the stronger and the 
brighter also is the celestial armour put upon them at the 
revelation of the Captain of their salvation. 

4. Neither can it be doubted, but that our good God, in 
fixing the degree of divine manifestation, hath a peculiar 
respect to the state and capacity of the souls to whom he 
discovers himself. The deeper sinners mourn for him, the 
deeper he makes them drink of the cup of salvation at his 
appearing. Blessed are they that greatly hunger and 
thirst after righteousness ; their souls are thereby greatly 
enlarged to receive the oil of gladness and the wine of the 
kingdom. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those whose 
souls are empty as the vessels of the desolate widow in the 
days of Elisha : when the heavenly prophet shall visit them, 
the streams of his fulness shall certainly flow according to 
the degree of their emptiness. 

5. A skilful physician prescribes weaker or stronger me- 
dicines, according to the state of his patients. So does the 
Physician of souls : he weighs, if I may so speak, every 
dram of the heavenly power in the scales of goodness and 
wisdom. He knows what quantity of the heavenly cordial 
our spirits can bear, and will not, without the greatest care, 
put the strong wine of his powerful love into a weak vessel. 
He sees, that as some persons can stand for a time the 



42 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



sight of the meridian sun, when others are hurt by the first 
appearance of a taper; so some Christians can bear the 
strong beams of his gracious presence, while others are 
almost overpowered by his fainter rays. 

6. If some live and die without any manifestations of the 
Redeemer's love and glory, the reason of it may possibly 
be found in the abysses of his justice and goodness. They 
grieve and quench the Spirit that convinces the world 
of sin; and it is very fit they should not have him 
as a Comforter whom they obstinately reject as a re- 
prover. Add to this, that as our Lord foresees, if such 
people were favoured with tokens of his more distinguishing 
condescension, they would only abuse them, as Cain and the 
Pharisees did, he puts them not to the trial, nor suffers 
them to enhance their guilt by trampling richer mercy and 
love under foot ; so that this seeming severity is, in fact, real 
benignity. 

7. The Lord not only proportions the degree of his pow- 
erful appearance to the weakness of our souls, but also to 
that of our bodies. He knoweth whereof we are made, 
and remembers we are but flesh. If the natural sun, that 
glorious emblem of our Emmanuel, were to approach as 
near our earth, and shine as bright as possible, the insuffer- 
able blaze and heat would instantly blind and consume us. 
By a parity of reason, were our bright Sun of righteous- 
ness to manifest his unclouded glory, or to appear without 
the tempering medium of his manhood, no flesh could sup- 
port the sight. The brain, unable to bear the high opera- 
tions of the soul, would turn ; the heart of the wicked, 
swelled with intolerable pangs of fear, and that of the right- 
eous, dilated by overwhelming transports of joy, would in- 
stantly burst. God, therefore, says, " No man can see my 
face," without some dimming veil, " and live." Hence 
arose, likewise, the grateful exclamations of Manoah and 
others, when the Lord had manifested himself to them, con- 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



43 



cealed under human appearances, " We have seen God, and 
live ! We have beheld him, and are not consumed !" 

8. This may, perhaps, help us to account why the Lord 
still hides his face from some of his sincere seekers. They 
sit begging by the wayside of his ordinances, and yet he 
deos not pass by so as to restore to them their spiritual sight, 
that they might know him. In all probability he designs 
them such a bright manifestation as they are not yet able 
to bear. When their hearts are strengthened for the hea- 
venly vision, it shall speak. Let them only wait for it. 
Let patience have its perfect work, and faith in the word 
be tried to the uttermost ; and he that cometh will come, 
and will not tarry. He will bring his reward with him ; 
and a moment of his presence will make them abundant 
amends for the waiting of an age. Were he to appear be- 
fore they are prepared by the humiliation of repentance 
and the patience of hope, they would be in the case of those 
carnal Israelites, who, far from being able to commune with 
God, could not so much as speak to Moses when he came 
down from the mount, without first obliging him to put a 
veil over his shining face. 

Peter, James, and John, were, it seems, the foremost of 
the apostles in spiritual strength and boldness ; neverthe- 
less, the manifestation they had of Christ on the mount 
almost overwhelmed them. Their body sunk under the 
weight of his glory, and when they came out of their sleep 
or trance, they could not recover themselves ; " they knew 
not what they said." This had been before the case of 
Daniel, and was once more that of St. John. The come- 
liness of the man greatly beloved was turned to corrup- 
tion ; he retained no strength. And the beloved apostle, 
when he saw his Saviour with some additional beams of 
glory, " fell at his feet as dead." St. Paul not only lost his 
sight on such an occasion, but was near losing his life, being 
unable to take any refreshment for three days and three 



44 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



nights. And it is also generally supposed that Moses actu- 
ally died under the overpowering displays of the Redeem- 
er's love. Hence we learn that God's way and time are 
best, and that we are to leave both to his gracious wisdom ; 
using the means in which he has promised to manifest him- 
self to those who diligently seek him. 

VII. What those means are, is what I come in the last 
place to consider. The agent or author of every divine man- 
ifestation is the eternal God, one in three, and three in one. 
The Father reveals the Son freely, the Son freely discovers 
himself, and the Holy Ghost freely testifies of him. Never- 
theless, the Scriptures, in general, attribute this wonder of 
grace to the blessed Spirit : " Iso man can 99 experimentally 
"say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." It 
is his peculiar office to convince the world of righteousness, 
by giving us to know savingly the Lord our righteousness : 
"He shall glorify me," says Christ; "for he shall take of 
mine, and show it unto you." And this he does, without 
any merit of ours, in the means which God hath appointed, 
and which he enables us to use aright. 

These means are both outward and inward. The outward 
are what our church calls "the means of grace;" particu- 
larly hearing or reading the word, partaking of the sacra- 
ments, and praying together with one accord for the mani- 
festation of the Spirit, as the primitive Christians did. Acts 
ii, 1. These means are to be used with the greatest dili- 
gence, but not to be trusted to : the only proper object of 
our confidence is God, who works all in all. It was not 
Moses's rod which parted the Red Sea, but that almighty 
Ann which once divided the water from the water without a 
rod. Nevertheless, as Moses was not to throw his rod away, 
under pretence of trusting in God alone, neither was he to rely 
on the weak instrument, as if the divine power resided in it. 

Though the Lord in general works by means, he ties him- 
self to none, and sometimes works without any. The same 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



45 



Spirit which fell upon Cornelius, while Peter preached, fell 
upon Peter on the Day of Pentecost without any preaching. 
And the same Lord who opened Lydia's heart by the 
ministry of St. Paul, opened the heart of St. Paul by the 
sole exertion of his power. "We hence learn, that as, on the 
one hand, we ought not, with the profane and enthusiasts, 
to tempt the Lord, by neglecting the use of any of the 
means he hath appointed ; so, on the other hand, we must 
beware of confining God to particular means, times, and 
places, as the bigoted and superstitious do ; remembering, 
that when we are cut off from all outward means, it is our 
privilege to wait for the immediate display of God's arm, in 
the use of the inward means. 

Of these, the first is a believing there will be a perform- 
ance of the Lord's promise, and that he is willing and able 
to manifest himself to us, as he does not to the world : this 
is the very root of prayer, fervency, hope, and expectation. 
Without the actings of this preparatory faith, the soul 
droops, and becomes an easy prey to despondency, vanity, 
or sloth. "Where this talent is buried, the Lord seldom works. 
" Believest thou that I am able to do this for thee ?" is gen- 
erally the first question that he puts to the seeker's heart. 
If it is answered in the negative, he can do no great miracle, 
because of this unbelief. [Nevertheless, it must be acknow- 
ledged that St. Paul was blessed with the revelation of the 
Son of God, without any previous desire or expectation of 
it. In him and others was this scripture fulfilled, " I was 
found of them that sought me not ; I was manifested to 
them that asked not after me." But, in general, where the 
gospel is preached, the Lord will be inquired of by the 
house of Israel to do this ; and if he visit any with convic- 
tion, as he did St. Paul, it is only to make them pray, as 
that apostle did, until he manifests himself by the Holy 
Ghost, in a way of consolation and love. 

The second inward means of the manifestation of Christ 



46 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



is resignation as to the particular manner, time, and place 
of it. Through patience, as well as faith and prayer, 
we inherit this promised blessing. Some, according to 
their carnal wisdom and forward imagination, mark out the 
way in which salvation is to come to their hearts ; but the 
Lord generally disappoints those unhumbled seekers, 
though, as in the case of Gideon, he may gratify one in a 
thousand : for believers are not " born of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." The Jews ex- 
pected the Messiah, and there they were right : but they 
expected him in their own way, and there they stumbled 
and fell. While they looked for a mighty conqueror, another 
Alexander, to make them great, they overlooked the lowly 
Prince of peace, who came to make them good ; and at last 
they crucified him as a base impostor. This Jewish disposi- 
tion is in all by nature. Hence Christ is commonly rejected 
in the Spirit by Christians, as he was in the flesh by the Jews. 
We would have him come to give us an idle rest, but he ap- 
pears to teach us to deny ungodliness, and fight the good 
fight of faith : this we do not like. Our nature wants to 
step at once into a throne : but he offers first to nail us to 
the tree, and to crucify our flesh with its affections and 
lusts : and from this we shrink as from the grave. We ex- 
pect to be carried at once to the top of Mount Tabor, to see 
unutterable glory ; but he leads us to Gethsemane to watch 
and pray, or to Calvary to suffer and die with him: here 
we recoil, and do not choose to know him. Our forward 
impatience dictates that he shall instantaneously turn our 
midnight into noon day ; but instead of manifesting himself 
at once as the meridian sun, he will, perhaps, appear only 
as the morning star, that our light may shine more and 
more unto the perfect day. This defeats our counsel ; we 
despise the day of small things, and do not think so low 
an appearance worth our notice and thanks. If you, sir, 
ever seek the saving knowledge of Jesus, never stop till you 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



47 



can witness your sun goes down no more ; but, in the mean 
time, never slight the least ray of the heavenly light. The 
least may open into the broad day of eternity. Cease from 
your own false wisdom, and become as a little child, or 
you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, and see the 
King in his beauty. 

The third and last inward means I would recommend to 
mourners in Sion, is a tender regard for the reproofs of 
the Spirit, a constant attention to the drawings of the Fa- 
ther, obedience to the calls they have to secret prayer, and 
a fear of depending upon their duties, and not solely upon 
the faithfulness of Jesus. Whoever follows these directions, 
according to the grace given him, will, of course, cease 
from outward evil, and do, as he can, the little good his 
hand finds to do. This is a better way of waiting for the 
revelation of Christ, than to he down in dejection and hope- 
less unbelief. All those who sullenly bury their one talent, 
and wilfully retain the accursed thing, complain in vain that 
their Lord makes long tarrying. They obstinately grieve 
his convincing Spirit, and then absurdly clamour, because 
he does not reward them for it, by the comforts of his hea- 
venly presence. Let us not be so unreasonable. Let us 
" strive to enter in at the strait gate," remembering that 
"many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able." But 
let us strive lawfully, not making ourselves a righteous- 
ness of our own seeking, knocking, and striving. The sun 
shines, not because we deserve it by undrawing our curtains, 
but because it is his nature. Jesus visits us, not because 
of any merit in our prayers, &c, but for his own sake, be- 
cause his truth and compassion fail not. Free grace opens 
the door of mercy, not to works and merit, but to want and 
misery. That you and I may knock and press in, with all 
needy, penitent, believing sinners, is the earnest wish of a 
heart, which prompts me to subscribe myself, sir, 

Yours, <fec. 



48 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



LETTER Y. 

Sir, — When I told you that, in all ages, Jehovah Jesus 
manifests himself in a peculiar manner to his people, you 
exclaimed against the assertion as altogether new and un- 
scriptural. It lies upon me, therefore, to prove that anti- 
quity and Scripture are on my side. I shall then in this 
letter appeal to the manifestations recorded in the Old 
Testament. You cannot expect all the revelations of any 
child of God, much less those of every one, to be mentioned 
in so short a history as that of the Bible. Nevertheless, 
enough is said on the point to convince us that, in every 
age of the church, God hath favoured the sons of men with 
peculiar displays of his presence. 

Let us go back as far as Adam himself. Did not the 
Lord familiarly converse with him before the fall, both 
when he presented him with a partner, and when he brought 
every beast of the field before him, to see what he would 
call them ? Did he not visit him after the fall, to pro- 
nounce his sentence, and to promise that he would become 
the woman's seed, and bruise the serpent's head ? Was 
not this manifestation granted to Abel, when the Lord had 
respect to his sacrifice : the very cause of Cain's envy, 
wrath, and murder ? Did not Enoch's walking with God 
imply a constant union and communion with Emmanuel ? 
And how could this union have taken place if the Lord 
had not first revealed himself to the patriarch ? Must not 
two persons meet and agree, before they can walk and 
converse together? 

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and, in 
consequence of it, was made acquainted with his righteous 
designs, and received directions how to escape from a 
perishing world. The history of Abraham is full of ac- 
counts of such manifestations. In one of them the Lord 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



49 



called him out of his sins, and from his kindred, to go both 
to the heavenly and earthly Canaan. In others, he pro- 
mised him Isaac, and Isaac's mysterious seed. Several 
years after, for the trial of his faith, he commanded him to 
sacrifice that favourite son ; and when the trial was over, 
he testified his approbation of Abraham's conduct. He 
went farther. Read Gen. xviii, and you will see how the 
divine philanthropy, or the love of God toward man, ap- 
peared, in his condescending to clothe himself, beforehand, 
with the nature he was to assume in the virgin's womb, 
and to converse, in this undress, with the father of the 
faithful as a prince with his favourite, or a friend with his 
confident. 

Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Rebekah, had their divine 
manifestations ; but those of Jacob deserve our particular 
attention. When he fled to Syria from the face of his 
brother Esau, and lay desolate in a field, having only a 
heap of stones for his pillow, the God of all consolation 
appeared to him : " And, behold, the Lord stood above" the 
mysterious ladder, on which the angels of God ascended 
and descended, " and said, I am the Lord ; behold, I am 
with thee, and will keep thee in all places, whither thou 
goest. And Jacob called that place Beth-el, the house of 
God, and the gate of heaven :" as if he had wanted to inti- 
mate, no one ever found the gate of heaven but by a 
manifestation of Christ, who is alone the way to the Fa- 
ther, and the door into glory. When the same patriarch 
returned to Canaan, and was left alone one night, there 
wrestled a man with him till the breaking of the day. 
And when this extraordinary person said, "Let me go, 
for the day breaketh ;" he replied, " I will not let thee go, 
unless thou bless me :" and he blessed him there, acknow- 
ledging that he had power with man and God, even with 
him whose name is Emmanuel, God with us. " And 
Jacob called the name of the place Peniel," the face of 

3 



50 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



God ; " for he said, I have seen God face to face, and my 
life is preserved." The design of this manifestation was 
merely" to strengthen his faith ; and we learn from it, that 
the children of faithful Abraham wrestle in prayer with 
the God-man, as Jacob did, till they prevail, and are 
blessed as he was. 

Moses was favoured with numberless manifestations, 
sometimes as prime minister of the king of the Jews, and 
at other times only as a common believer. " There ap- 
peared to him, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, the angel 
of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush ; and when Moses 
saw it, he drew near, and the voice of the Lord came unto 
him, saying, I am the God of thy fathers." Acts vii, 30, 
&c. Many partook of a sight equally glorious : " Mo- 
ses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders 
of Israel, went up and saw the God of Israel ; and there 
was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire 
stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 
And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not 
his hand : also they saw God, and did eat and drink." 
Exod. xxiv, 9-11. "Behold," said Moses upon the 
occasion, "the Lord our God hath showed us bis glory, 
and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire ; 
and we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, 
and he liveth." Deut. v, 24. All Israel shared sometimes 
in the glorious manifestation: "They all drank of that" 
spiritual " Rock that followed them," says St. Paul ; " and 
that Rock was Christ." " The cloud of the Lord was upon 
the tabernacle by day," says the Jewish historian, " and fire 
was upon it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel." 
" It came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the 
cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the taber- 
nacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people 
saw the cloudy pillar, and rose up and worshipped, every man 
in the door of his tent. And the Lord spake to Moses face 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



51 



to face, as a man speaketh to his friend." Exod. xxxiii, 9-11. 
So indulgent was Emmanuel to him, that when he said, " I 
beseech thee, show me thy glory," the Lord answered, "I 
will make all my goodness pass before thee ; but thou canst 
not see my face," without some veil, "and live. And," O 
astonishing condescension ! " the Lord descended in the 
cloud, and stood with him, and proclaimed the name of 
the Lord." Jehovah Jesus passed before him, and pro- 
claimed, "Jehovah, Jehovah," that is, revealed to him the 
Father and the Holy Ghost, one merciful God together 
with himself. And Moses made haste, bowed his head 
toward the earth, and worshipped." These displays of 
divine goodness and glory left a divine impression on the 
countenance of the man of God ; his face shone so trans- 
cendency glorious, that the children of Israel were afraid 
to come nigh him ; and he was obliged to put a veil upon 
it, before he could converse with them. Though this ap- 
pears very extraordinary, the apostles inform us that what 
happened to the countenance of Moses, happens to the 
souls of all believers. By faith they behold the Lord 
through the glass of gospel promises ; and beholding him 
they are made partakers of the divine nature : they are 
changed into the same image from glory to glory. 

Joshua, Moses's successor, was blessed with many such 
manifestations, each of which conveyed to him new degrees 
of courage and wisdom. To instance in one only : "When 
he was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and 
behold, there stood a man over against him, with his 
sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him, and 
said, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he 
said, Nay, but as Captain of the Lord's host am I come. 
And Joshua," sensible it was Jehovah, " fell on his face to 
the earth, worshipped, and said to him, What says my 
Lord to his servant ? And the Captain of the Lord's host 
said to Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot ; for the 



52 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



place whereon thou standest is holy ground ; and J oshua 
did so." Josh, v, 13, &c. Every true discovery of Christ 
hath a similar effect. It humbles the sinner, and makes him 
worship in the dust. He sees " holiness to the Lord " 
written upon every surrounding object ; he is loosed from 
earth and earthly things; and the towering walls of sin 
fall before him, as those of Jericho, soon after this mani- 
festation, did before Joshua. 

When that chief was dead, the same heavenly person, 
called "the Angel of the Lord," came from Gilgal to 
Bochim, and spake such words to all the children of 
Israel, that the people were universally melted ; they 
lifted up their voice, wept, and sacrificed. Judges ii, 1-5. 
Nothing can so effectually make sinners relent as a sight 
of Him whom they have pierced. When they have it, 
whatever place they are in becomes a Bochim, a valley of 
tears and adoration. 

Not long after, the Lord manifested himself to Deborah, 
and by the wisdom and fortitude communicated to her in 
that revelation, she was enabled to judge Israel, and lead 
desponding Barak to certain victory, through nine hundred 
chariots of iron. 

The condescension of our Emmanuel appears in a still 
more striking light, in the manifestation which he vouch- 
safed to Gideon. This mysterious "Angel of the Lord," 
again and again called " Jehovah," " came and sat under an 
oak in Ophrah, appeared to Gideon, and said, The Lord 
is with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one 
man. And the Lord looked upon him," (what a courage- 
inspiring look was this ! as powerful, no doubt, as that 
which met cursing Peter's eye, and darted repentance to 
his heart !) " and he said, Go in this thy might ; have not I 
sent thee? And Gideon said, Alas! Lord God, for 
because I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face. 
And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee ; fear not : 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



53 



thou shalt not die." Thus strengthened and comforted, he 
built an altar to Jehovah- Shalom, and threw down the 
altar of Baal. Judges vi, 11, &c. Hence we learn that, 
when Jesus manifests himself to a sinner, he fills him with 
a noble contempt of Baal, an effectual resolution to break 
down his altars, and a divine courage to shake off the yoke 
of the spiritual Midianites. He imparts to him a comfort- 
able assurance that the bitterness of death is past, and that 
Jehovah- Shalom, the God of peace, even Christ our 
peace, is with him ; and the sinner, constrained by the 
love of Christ, gives him his believing heart, and offers 
sacrifices of thanksgiving on that best of altars. Here 
begins such a free intercourse between the Redeemer and the 
redeemed, as we find began between the Lord and Gideon, 
only of a far more spiritual and delightful nature. 

Some years after, the same Angel of God appeared to 
Manoah's wife, and promised her a son. Her husband 
prayed for the same manifestation. God hearkened to his 
voice. The heavenly personage manifested himself a 
second time. Manoah asked him his name, and the 
"Angel said to him, Why askest thou after my name, 
seeing it is secret ?" I am not yet called " Jesus." Manoah 
offered a burnt-offering : the Angel received it at his 
hands ; and, while he ascended in the flame of the altar, 
Manoah fell on his face to the ground, knew that he was 
% the Angel Jehovah, and said to his wife, " We shall surely 
die, because we have seen God." She comforted him 
under his fears ; and the birth of Samson, instead of their 
death, was the consequence of this twofold manifestation. 

There was a time when Samuel did not yet know the 
Lord, neither was the Word of the Lord, that Word 
which was afterward made flesh, yet revealed unto him. 
The devoted youth worshipped in the dark, till " the Lord 
appeared again in Shiloh, came, stood, and called, Samuel, 
Samuel ; for the Lord revealed himself to him there, by 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



the Word of the Lord." From that memorable time " the 
Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to 
the ground." The intercourse between God and his pro- 
phet soon grew to so great a degree, that the sacred his- 
torian says, " The Lord told him in his ear " what he wanted 
him to be informed of. 1 Sam. hi, 7-19 ; ix, 15. 

David had many manifestations of Christ and his par- 
doning love ; and, far from supposing this blessing peculiar 
to himself as a prophet, he declares that " for this every 
one that is godly shall pray to God when he may be 
found." Psa. xxxii, 6. He knew his Shepherd's inward 
voice so well that, without it, no outward message, though 
ever so comfortable, could restore peace to his troubled 
mind. When he had been convinced of his crimes of 
adultery and murder, by the close application of Nathan's 
parable, the prophet assured him the Lord had put 
away his sin ; he should not die. This report would have 
contented many of our modem penitents ; but nothing 
short of an immediate manifestation of the forgiving God 
could comfort the royal mourner: "Wash thou me," says 
he, "and I shall be clean." Nathan's words, though ever 
so true, cannot do this : speak thyself, merciful Lord, 
" make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which 
thou hast broken may rejoice." 

Exceeding remarkable was the revelation his son Solo- 
mon was favoured with : "In Gibeon," where he was gone 
to sacrifice, " the Lord appeared unto him in a dream by 
night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee." Con- 
scious of his greatest want, he asked " an understanding 
heart. The speech pleased the Lord, and God said, Be- 
cause thou hast asked this thing, I have done according to 
thy word : lo, I have given It thee ; and that also which 
thou hast not asked, both riches and honour." Though 
this promise was made to him in a dream, he knew by the 
change which he found in himself when he awoke, and by 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



55 



the powerful evidence which accompanies divine manifesta- 
tions, that it was a glorious reality. Fully persuaded of 
it, he scrupled not to offer peace-offerings, and make a 
feast to all his servants on the occasion. 1 Kings iii. Nor 
was this the only time Solomon was thus favoured. When 
he had built the temple, and prayed for a blessing upon 
it, " the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had 
appeared to him in Gibeon, and said, I have heard thy 
prayer." 1 Kings ix, 2, 3. 

Elijah is so famous for the power he had to obtain 
divine manifestations by the prayer of faith, that St. James, 
who had seen him on the mount with Christ and Moses, 
proposes him to the church for a pattern of successful 
wrestling with God. And who is the Lord God of Elijah, 
but the God that manifests himself to his worshippers, in 
opposition to Baal and other false gods, from whom neither 
visits nor answers can be obtained ? The Lord answered 
him by fire at the foot of Mount Carmel, and by showers 
on the top ; and " when he lodged in Mount Horeb in a 
cave, behold, the word of the Lord" (Jehovah-Jesus) "came 
to him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah ? Go forth, 
stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold the 
Lord passed by ;" and in his " still, small voice," com- 
forted, supported, and directed him. 1 Kings xix, 9, 11,12. 

Micaiah, another man of God, " saw the Lord sitting on 
his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on 
his right hand and on his left." 1 Kings xxii, 19. Elisha 
was not only blessed with frequent manifestations of the 
Lord and his power, but of his heavenly retinue also. He 
saw in an hour of danger " the mountain full of horses and 
chariots of fire," ready to protect him ; and, at his request, 
the Lord condescended to open his servant's eyes, that his 
drooping spirits might revive at the sight. 2 Kings vi, 17. 

Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, related to him, that "in 
thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth 



56 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



on men, fear and trembling came upon him. Then a spirit 
passed before his face ; it stood still, but he could not dis- 
cern," that is, clearly distinguish, " the form thereof. An 
image was before his face, and he heard a voice saying, 
Shall mortal man be more pure than God VI As for Job, 
when he had long contended with his friends, the Lord 
answered him out of the whirlwind, and manifested him- 
self in a manner to which that good man was before a 
stranger: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the 
ear, but now mine eye seeth thee ; wherefore, I abhor 
myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job xxxviii, 1 ; 
xlii, 5, 6. Hence we learn that nothing but a discovery of 
the Lord can silence the vain reasonings of self-righteous 
pleas and unbelieving fears : this alone makes us to lie in 
deep prostration at our Maker's feet. 

St. John informs us that Isaiah saw Christ's glory, and 
spake of him, when he described the glorious manifesta- 
tion in which he received a new seal of pardoning and 
sanctifying love. " I saw the Lord," says he, " sitting 
upon his throne, high and lifted up ; his train filled the 
temple. The seraphims, covering their faces with their 
wings, cried one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord 
of hosts. Then said I, Wo is me, for I am undone, be- 
cause I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst 
of people of unclean lips ; for mine eyes have seen the 
King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims, 
and touching me with a live coal from off the altar, he 
said, Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." 
Isa. vi, 1, &c. Many never witness the forgiveness of their 
sins till they see by faith the Lord of hosts, and are melted 
into repentance, and inflamed with love at the glorious 
sight. Isaiah not only beheld Christ's glory, but was 
blessed with the clearest views of his sufferings. He saw 
him as " a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs :" 
and asked him why he was red in his apparel, and his 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



57 



garments like him that treadeth the wine-fat ? These revela- 
tions were not only calculated for the good of the church, 
but also for the establishment of the prophet's faith. 

I shall not mention those of Ezekiel ; they are so nume- 
rous, that a particular account of them would alone fill a 
letter. I refer you to the book itself. Jeremiah, speaking 
of God's people, says, in express terms, " The Lord hath 
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee 
with an everlasting love ; therefore with loving-kindness 
have I drawn thee." Jer. xxxi, 3. Daniel enjoyed the 
same favour : he saw " the Ancient of days, and one like 
the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven." We 
may naturally suppose that Daniel's three companions, 
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were sensible of their 
heavenly Deliverer's presence. They were more concerned 
in the discovery than Nebuchadnezzar, who cried out, 
"Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the 
fire, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." 

It would be absurd to suppose that the lesser prophets, 
and other men of God to whom the word of the Lord 
came, had no discovery of the Lord himself, the essential 
Word. If some display of his presence had not attended 
their every revelation, might they not have said, " Thus says 
my warm imagination" — " Thus says my enthusiastic brain," 
as well as, " Thus says the Lord ?" 

From the variety and authenticity of these manifestations 
left upon sacred record, I conclude, that the doctrine I 
maintain, far from being new and unscriptural, is supported 
by the experiences of God's children for three thousand six 
hundred years, namely, from the creation of the world till 
the close of the Old Testament.. 

With respect to what is extraordinary, as to the design, 
and barely external, as to the circumstances of some of 
these manifestations, I refer you to the distinctions I made 
on that subject in mv second letter. Should you object, 

3* 



58 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



that the contents of this prove only that God favoured the 
patriarchs and Jews with immediate revelations of himself, 
because they had neither the gospel nor the Scriptures : I 
answer, — 

1. The gospel was preached to them as well as to us. 
The patriarchs had tradition, which answered the end of 
the Scriptures in their day. The Jews, in the time of the 
judges, had not only tradition, but a considerable part of 
the Scriptures, even all the writings of Moses. Under the 
kings they had the Psalms, Job, Ecclesiastes, the Proverbs, 
and a thousand and five songs of Solomon, one of which 
only has been handed down to our times. They had also 
the book of Nathan the prophet, the prophecy of Ahijah 
the Shilonite, and the visions of Id do the seer, which 
are now lost. These contained the substance of the 
Bible. 

2. When the Lord answered Saul no more, neither by 
prophets nor by dreams, the reason assigned for it by the 
Holy Ghost is, not that the canon of Scripture was filled, 
and there was no more occasion for immediate revelations, 
but that the Lord was departed from him, and was become 
his enemy. 

3. David, who had the honour of being a sacred writer 
himself, after his relapse into sin, could not be satisfied 
with the Psalms he had penned down, but mourned, 
prayed, and watered his bed with his tears, inconsolable, 
till the Lord immediately revealed his pardoning love, and 
said to his soul, "I am thy salvation." 

4. If, because we have the letter of Scripture, we must 
be deprived of all immediate manifestations of Christ and 
his Spirit, we are great losers by that blessed book, and 
we might reasonably say, "Lord, bring us back to the 
dispensation of Moses. Thy Jewish servants could for- 
merly converse with thee face to face, but now we can 
know nothing of thee but by their writings. They viewed 



OF THE SON OF GOD, 



59 



thy glory in various wonderful appearances, but we are 
indulged only with black lines, telling us of thy glory. 
They had the bright Shekinah, and we have only obscure 
descriptions of it. They were blessed with lively oracles, 
and we only with a dead letter. The ark of thy covenant 
went before them, and struck terror into all their adver- 
saries ; but a book, of which our enemies make daily sport, 
is the only revelation of thy power among us. They made 
their boast of Urim and Thummim, and received par- 
ticular, immediate answers from between the cherubim ; 
but we have only general ones, by means of Hebrew and 
Greek writings, which many do not understand. They 
conversed familiarly with Moses their mediator ; with 
Aaron then high priest ; and Samuel then* prophet : these 
holy men gave them unerring directions in doubtful cases ; 
but, alas ! the apostles and inspired men are all dead, and 
thou, Jesus, our Mediator, Priest, and Prophet, canst not 
be consulted to any purpose, for thou manifestest thyself 
no more. As for thy sacred book, thou knowest that 
sometimes the want of money to purchase it, the want of 
learning to consult the original, the want of wisdom to 
understand the translation, the want of skill or sight to 
read it, prevent our improving it to the best advantage, 
and keep some from reaping any benefit from it at all. 
Lord, if, because we have this blessed picture of thee, we 
must have no discovery of the glorious original, have com- 
passion on us, take back thy precious book, and impart 
thy more precious self to us, as thou didst to thy ancient 
people." 

5. St. Paul declares, that though the Mosaic dispensa- 
tion was glorious, that of Christ exceeds it in glory. 
But if Christ revealed himself immediately to the Jews, 
and to Christians only mediately, by the letter of a book, 
it is plain the apostle was mistaken ; for no one can deny 
it is far more glorious to see the light of God's countenance 



60 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



and hear his voice, than merely to read something about 
them in a book. 

6. That particular manifestations of Christ, far from 
ceasing with the Jewish, have increased in brightness and 
spirituality under the Christian dispensation, I shall en- 
deavour to prove in my next. 

I am, sir, &c. 



LETTER VI. 

Sir, — According to my promise, I shall now prove that the 
New Testament abounds, as well as the Old, with accounts 
of particular revelations of the Son of God. 

Before his birth he manifested himself to the blessed 
virgin, by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost. 
She rejoiced in God her Saviour, and gloried more in 
having him revealed as God in her soul, than in finding 
him conceived as man in her womb. Soon after, Joseph, 
her husband, was assured, in a heavenly dream, that the 
child she bore was Emmanuel, God with us. He re- 
vealed himself next to Elizabeth. When she heard the 
salutation of Mary, she was filled with the Holy Ghost, 
and made sensible that the virgin was the mother of her 
Lord. So powerful was this manifestation, that her unborn 
son was affected by it: the babe leaped in her womb 
for joy, and was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his 
mother's womb. 

So important is a particular knowledge of Jesus, that an 
angel directed the shepherds, and a miraculous star the 
wise men, to the place where he was born ; and there the 
Holy Ghost so revealed him to their hearts, that they 
hesitated not to worship the seemingly despicable infant 
as the majestic God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot 
contain. 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



61 



Simeon, who waited for the consolation of Israel, had 
it revealed to him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not 
see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. The 
promise was fulfilled ; and while his bodily eyes discovered 
nothing but a poor infant, presented without pomp in the 
temple, his spiritual eyes perceived him to be the light of 
Israel, and the salvation of God. Nor was this extraordi- 
nary favour granted only to Simeon ; for it is written, 
" All flesh shall see the salvation of God ;" and St. Luke 
informs us, that Anna partook of the sight of the old 
Israelite, gave thanks to her new-born Lord, and spake 
of him to all that waited for redemption in J erusalem. 

When he entered upon his ministry, he first manifested 
himself to his forerunner. "I knew him not " personally, 
said John ; " but he that sent me to baptize with water, 
said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit de- 
scending, and remaining on him, the same is he who bap- 
tizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record, 
that this is the Son of God, the Lamb that taketh away 
the sins of the world." 

Jesus had manifested himself spiritually to Nathaniel 
under the fig-tree ; and the honest Israelite, being re- 
minded of that divine favour, confessed the author of it : 
" Rabbi," said he, " thou art the Son of God, thou art the 
King of Israel." Our Lord, pleased with his ready con- 
fession, promised that he should see greater things, enjoy 
brighter manifestations than these; that he should even 
see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and 
descending upon the Son of man. 

The bare outward sight of our Saviour's person and 
miracles rather confounded than converted the beholders. 
What glorious beams of his Godhead pierced through the 
veil of his mean appearances, when, with supreme autho- 
rity, he turned the buyers and sellers out of the temple ; 
when he entered J erusalem in triumph, and all the city 



62 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



was moved, saying, " Who is this ?" and when he said to 
those who apprehended him, "I am he," and they went 
backward, and fell to the ground ! Nevertheless, we do 
not find that one person was blessed with the saving know- 
ledge of him on any of these solemn occasions. The peo- 
ple of Galilee saw most of him, and yet believed least in 
him: "What wisdom is this which is given to this man," 
said they, " that such mighty works are wrought by his 
hands ? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary ? And 
they were offended at him." Some went even so far as to 
ascribe his miracles to a diabolical power, affirming that 
he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. 
Hence it appears, that if he had not, in some degree, re- 
vealed himself to the hearts of his disciples, when he said 
to them, " Follow me," they would never have forsaken all 
immediately and followed him. " He manifested forth his 
glory," says St. John, " and his disciples believed on him :" 
and yet, when the manifestation was chiefly external, how 
weak was the effect it produced even upon them ! How 
was our Lord, after all, obliged to upbraid them with their 
unbelief, their little faith, and, on a particular occasion, 
with their having no faith ! If we know, savingly, that 
Jesus is God with us, flesh and blood, that is, mere man 
with all his best powers, hath not revealed this to us, but 
our Father who is in heaven. " As no man knoweth the 
Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal 
him ; so no man knoweth the Son but the Father, and he 
to whom the Spirit " proceeding from the Father " does 
reveal him. For no man can," savingly " say, that Jesus 
is" Jehovah, "the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost;" and 
"he that hath seen me," by this divine revelation, says 
Jesus, " hath seen the Father also ; for I and the Father 
are one." 

Had not our Lord revealed himself in a peculiar manner 
to sinners, no one would have suspected him to be God 



OF THE SON OF GrOD. 



63 



manifest in the flesh. Till he discovers himself as he does 
not unto the world, "he hath no form nor comeliness, ,, 
says Isaiah ; " and when we see him, there is no beauty in 
him, that we should desire him ; we hide as it were our 
faces from him ; he is despised, and we esteem him not." 
He was obliged to say to the woman of Samaria, " I that 
speak to thee am He ;" and to say it with a power that 
penetrated her heart, before she could believe with her 
heart unto righteousness. Then, indeed, divinely wrought 
upon, she ran, and invited her neighbours to draw living 
water out of the well of salvation she had so happily 
found. 

If our Lord had not called Zaccheus inwardly as well as 
outwardly ; if he had not made him come down from the 
pinnacle of proud nature, as well as from the sycamore - 
tree ; if he had not honoured his heart with his spiritual, as 
he did his house with his bodily presence ; the rich publi- 
can would never have received him gladly, nor would the 
Lord have said, " This day is salvation come to thy house, 
forasmuch as thou art a son of faithful Abraham.' 9 

Salvation did not enter into the heart of Simon, who ad- 
mitted our Lord to his house and table, as well as Zaccheus. 
The penitent woman, who kissed his feet and washed them 
with her tears, obtained the blessing, which the self-right- 
eous Pharisee despised. It was to her contrite spirit, and 
not to his callous heart, that the Lord revealed himself, as 
the pardoning God. 

The blind man, restored to his bodily sight, knew not his 
heavenly Benefactor, till a second and greater miracle was 
wrought upon the eyes of his blind understanding. When 
Jesus found him, some time after he was cured, he said to 
him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answer- 
ed, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him ?" And 
Jesus, opening the eyes of his mind, and manifesting him- 
self to him, as he does not unto the world, said, "Thou hast 



64 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee." Then, 
and not till then, he could say from the heart, " Lord, I be- 
lieve," and he worshipped him. 

Both the thieves who were crucified with him heard his 
prayers and strong cries ; both saw his patience and his meek- 
ness, his wounds and his blood. One continued to make 
sport of his sufferings, as though he had been a worse male- 
factor than himself ; while the other, blessed with an internal 
revelation of his Godhead, implored his mercy, trusted him 
with his soul, and confessed him to be the King of glory, at 
the very moment when he hung tortured and dying as the 
basest of slaves. 

St. Peter speaks so highly of the manifestation with which 

he and the two sons of Zebedee were favoured on Mount 

Tabor, that we ought not to pass over it in silence. They 

saw the kingdom of God coming with power ; they beheld 

the King in his beaut v. " His face did shine like the sun, 

and his raiment became white as lio-ht : a bright cloud Over- 
ly - o 

shadowed him, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which 
said, Tins is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; 
hear ye him." 

Xor did our Lord reveal himself less after his resurrec- 
tion. Mary sought him at the grave with tears. As she 
turned herself, she saw him standing, but knew not that it 
was Jesus, He said unto her, " Why weepest thou ? Whom 
seekest thou?" She, supposing him to be the gardener, in- 
quired after the object of her love ; until Jesus, calling her 
by her name, manifested himself to her as alive from the 
dead. Then she cried out, " Master !*' and in her transport 
would have taken her old place at his feet. 

With equal condescension he appeared to Simon, that he 
might not be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Tine 
mourners in Sion weep, some for an absent God, as Mary, 
others for their sins, as Peter ; and they will not be com- 
forted, no, not by angels, but only by Him, who is nigh to 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



65 



all that call upon him, and is health to those that are broken 
in heart. He that appeared first to weeping Mary, and 
next to sorrowing Peter, will shortly visit them with his 
salvation. He is already with them, as he was with 
Mary, though they know it not ; and he will soon be in 
them, the sure and comfortable hope of glory. 

This observation is further confirmed by the experience of 
the two disciples, who walked to Emmaus, and were sad. 
Jesus drew near, joined, and comforted them. He made 
their hearts to burn within them while he talked with 
them by the way, and opened to them the Scriptures. But 
still their eyes were held, that they should not know him, 
before they were prepared for the overwhelming favour. 
And it was not until he sat at meat with them, that their 
eyes were opened, and they knew him, in the breaking of 
bread. By a fatal mistake, many professors in our day rest 
satisfied with what did not satisfy the two disciples. They 
understood the Scriptures, their hearts burned with love 
and joy ; Jesus was with them, but they knew him not, 
until the happy moment when he fully opened the eye of 
their faith, and poured the light of his countenance on their 
ravished spirits. Happy those, who, like them, constrain 
an unknown Jesus by mighty prayers to tarry with them, 
until the veil is taken away from their hearts, and they 
know in whom they have believed. 

Frequent were the manifestations of Jesus to his disciples 
before his ascension. An angel appeared to two of the 
holy mourners, and said to them, " Fear not ; for I know 
that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is risen from 
the dead. As they ran with fear and great joy to tell his 
disciples, Jesus met them, saying, All hail ! and they came, 
held him by the feet, and worshipped him." The same 
day in the evening, when the doors were shut where the 
disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, 
and stood in the midst. They were terrified ; but with his 



66 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



wonted goodness he said, " Peace be unto you !" He showed 
them his hands and his feet ; ate with them as he had done 
of old with Abraham ; and to testify an inward manifesta- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, which he imparted to them, breathed 
upon them, as the Spirit breathed upon then minds ; and 
thus he opened their understandings, that they might un- 
derstand the Scriptures. Out of condescension to Thomas, 
he showed himself to them a second time, in the like man- 
ner ; and a third time at the Sea of Tiberias ; and afterward 
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. 

You will perhaps say, sir, that these manifestations ceased 
when Christ was ascended to heaven. This is true with re- 
spect to the manifestation of a body of such gross flesh and 
blood, as may be touched with material hands. In this 
sense believers know Christ after the flesh no more. Our 
Lord, by his gentle reproof to Thomas, discountenanced 
our looking for carnal manifestations of his person, and I 
have declared again and again that they are not what I 
contend for. 

But that spiritual manifestations of Christ ceased at his 
ascension, is what I must deny, if I receive the Scripture. 
On the contrary, they became more frequent. Three thou- 
sand were pricked to the heart on the Day of Pentecost, and 
felt their need of a visit from the heavenly Physician. He 
then came revealed in the power of his Spirit, with whom 
he is one. They received the gift of the Holy Ghost, whose 
office it is to manifest the Son. For the promise was unto 
them and their children, and to as many as the Lord our 
God shall call. Witness the last words of Christ in St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel, " Lo ! I am with you always, even unto the 
end of the world." 

Time would fail me to tell of the five thousand converted 
some days after ; of Cornelius and his household, Lydia and 
her household ; in a word, of all who were truly brought 
to Christ in the first age of Christianity. " The Lord open- 



OF THE SON OF (iOD. 



67 



ed their hearts. The Holy Ghost fell upon them, and they 
walked in his comforts. Christ was evidently set forth 
crucified before then- spiritual eyes. He dwelt in their 
hearts by faith ; they lived not, but Christ lived in them." 
They agreed in saying with St. Paul, " If any man have not 
the Spirit of Christ," by whom he is savingly known, "he 
is none of his." 

Stephen's experience is alone sufficient to decide the 
point. When brought before the council, they all saw his 
face, as it had been the face of an angel. Being full of the 
Holy Ghost, he wrought no miracle, he spake no new tongue, 
but " looked steadfastly up into heaven and saw the glory of 
God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, 
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man 
standing on the right hand of God." This manifestation 
was calculated only for the private encouragement and com- 
fort of the pious deneon. It answered no other end but to 
em-age the Jews, and make them account him a greater 
blasphemer and a wilder enthusiast than they did before. 
Accordingly they cried aloud, stopped their ears, ran upon 
him, cast him out of the city, and stoned him ; while Ste- 
phen, under the powerful influence of the manifestation, 
kneeled down, and called upon God, saying, " Lord Jesus, 
receive my spirit, and lay not this sin to their charge." 
Hence we learn, first, that nothing appears so absurd and 
wicked to Pharisees and formalists, as the doctrine I main- 
tain. They lose all patience when they hear that Christ 
really manifests himself to his servants. No blasphemy 
like this in the account of those who are wise, learned, and 
prudent in their own eyes. Secondly, that the most exalt- 
ed saints need a fresh manifestation of the glory, love, and 
presence of Christ, that they may depart this life in the 
triumph of faith. 

If you object that Stephen was thus favoured, because 
he was about to suffer for Christ, and that it would be great 



68 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



presumption to expect the like support, I reply in the five 
following observations : 1 . We are called to suffer for Christ, 
as well as Stephen, though perhaps not in the same manner 
and degree. 2. We often need as much support from Christ, 
to stand against the children of men that are set on fire, 
whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongues a 
sharp sword, and to quench the fiery darts of the devil, as 
the martyr did to stand a shower of stones. 3. It is per- 
haps as hard to be racked with the gout, or to burn several 
days in a fever, on a sick bed, as you or I may be forced to 
do, as to be for a few minutes with Shadrach and his com- 
panions in a burning furnace, or to feel for a fleeting mo- 
ment the anguish of bruised flesh, and a fractured skull, 
with our triumphant martyr. ~No one knows what pangs 
of body and agonies of soul may accompany him through 
the valley of the shadow of death. If our Lord himself 
was not above being strengthened by an angel that appear- 
ed to him from heaven, surely it is no enthusiasm to say 
that such feeble creatures as we are stand in need of a divine 
manifestation, to enable us to fight our last battle manfully, 
and to come off more than conquerors. 4. We betray unbe- 
lief, if we suppose that Christ cannot do for us what he did 
for Stephen ; and we betray our presumption, if we say we 
want not the assistance which this bold champion stood in 
need of. 5. The language of our church is far different : 
" Grant," says she, in her collect for that saint's day, " 
Lord, that in all our sufferings here on earth for the testi- 
mony of thy truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, 
and, by faith, behold the glory that shall be revealed ; and 
being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and 
bless our persecutors, by the example of thy first martyr, 
St. Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, bless- 
ed J esus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour 
all those who suffer for thee." 

You see, sir, that I have the suffrage of the Church of 



OF THE SON OP GOD. 



69 



England, and yours, too, if you do not renounce our excel- 
lent liturgy ; so that, if I am an enthusiast for expecting to 
be filled with the Holy Ghost, and by faith to behold the 
glory that shall be revealed, as well as St. Stephen, I am 
countenanced by a multitude of the best and greatest men 
in the world. 

But suppose you reject the testimony of St. Stephen, and 
of all our clergy, (when in the desk,) touching the reality, 
and the necessity too, of our Lord's manifesting himself on 
earth, after his ascension into heaven, receive at least that 
of St. Luke and St. Paul. They both inform us, that " as 
Saul of Tarsus went to Damascus, the Lord, even Jesus, 
appeared to him in the way. Suddenly there shone a light 
from heaven above the brightness of the sun, so that he fell 
to the earth, and heard a voice, saying, Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me ? And he said, Who art thou, Lord ? 
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.'' 
So powerful was the effect of this manifestation of Christ, that 
the sinner was turned into a saint, and the fierce blaspheming 
persecutor, into a weeping, praying apostle. 

Methinks I hear you say, " True, into an apostle ; but are 
we called to be apostles ?" "No, sir ; but we are called to 
be Christians, to be converted from sin to holiness, and from 
the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son. 
St. Paul's call to the apostleship is nothing to his being 
made a child of God. Judas was a Christian by profession, 
an apostle by call, and a devil by nature. And what is 
Judas in his own place to the meanest of God's children ? — 
to poor Lazarus in Abraham's bosom? All who go to 
heaven are first turned from darkness to light, and from the 
power of Satan unto God. This turning sometimes begins 
by a manifestation of Christ : witness the authentic account 
of Colonel Gardiner's conversion, published by his judicious 
friend, Dr. Doddridge; and the more authentic one of our 
apostle's conversion, recorded three times by St. Luke. 



70 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION 



And I dare advance, upon the authority of one greater than 
St. Luke, that no one's conversion ever was completed 
without the revelation of the Son of God to his heart : " I 
am the way and the door," says Jesus; "no man cometh 
to the Father but by me." "Look unto me and be ye 
saved, all ye ends of the earth." Our looking to him for 
salvation would be to as little purpose, were he not to mani- 
fest himself to us, as our looking toward the east for light 
if the sun were not to rise upon us. 

The revelation of Christ productive of St. Paul's conver- 
sion, was not the only one with which the apostle was 
favoured. "At Corinth the Lord encouraged and spake to 
him in the night by a vision : Be not afraid, but speak, and 
hold not thy peace ; for I am with thee, and no man shall 
hurt thee." On another occasion, to wean him more from 
earth, Christ favoured him with the nearest views of heaven : 
" I knew a man in Christ," says he, " whether in the body or 
out of the body I cannot tell, who was caught up into the 
third heaven, into paradise, and heard words which it is not 
possible for man to utter." And he informs us further, 
that, lest he should be exalted above measure through the 
abundance of the revelations, a messenger of Satan was 
suffered to buffet him. When he had been brought before 
the Sanhedrim for preaching the Gospel, St. Luke informs us 
that " the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, 
Be of good cheer, Paul ; for as thou hast testified of me in 
Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." The 
ship in which he sailed being endangered by a storm, there 
stood by him " the Angel of God, whose he was, and whom 
he served, saying, Fear not, Paul," &c. 

St. Paul was not the only one to whom Christ manifested 
himself in this familiar manner. Ananias of Damascus was 
neither an apostle nor a deacon ; nevertheless, to him " said 
the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold I am 
here, Lord ; and the Lord said, Arise, and go into the street 



OF THE SON OF GOD. 



71 



which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas 
for one called Saul of Tarsus ; for behold he prayeth." In 
like manner, Philip was directed to go near and join himself 
to the eunuch's chariot. And St. Peter beincr informed 
that three men sought him, " Arise, said the Lord, and go 
with them, doubting nothing ; for I have sent them." 

Whether we place these manifestations in the class of the 
extraordinary, or of the mixed ones, we equally learn from 
them, first, that the Lord Jesus revealed himself as much 
after his ascension as he did before ; secondly, that if he 
does it to send his servants with a gospel message to par- 
ticular persons, he will do it much more to make that 
message effectual, and to bring salvation to those who wait 
for him. 

As for the revelations of Christ to St. John, they were 
so many, that the last book of the New Testament is called 
the Revelation, as containing chiefly an account of them : 
" I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," says the apostle ; 
"and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 
saying, I am the first and the last. I turned to see the 
voice that spake with me ; and I saw one like unto the 
Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and 
girt with a golden girdle. His head and hair were as white 
as snow, and his eyes as a flame of fire, his feet like unto fine 
brass burning in a furnace, his voice as the sound of many 
waters, and his countenance as the sun shining in his 
strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. 
And he laid his hand upon me, saying, Fear not ; I am the 
first and the last : I am he that liveth and was dead ; and, 
behold, I am alive for ever more : and have the keys of hell 
and death. Write the things which are and shall be." 
One of the things which our Lord commanded John to 
write is a most glorious promise, that he stands at the door 
of the human heart, ready to manifest himself even to poor 
lukewarm Laodiceans ; and that, if any man hear his voice 



72 SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATION, ETC. 

and open, — if they are made conscious of their need of him, 
so as to open their hearts by the prayer of faith, — he will 
come in and feast them with his gracious presence, and the 
delicious fruits of his blessed Spirit. Therefore the most 
extraordinary of all the revelations, that of St. John in 
Patmos, not only shows that the manifestations of Christ 
run parallel to the canon of Scripture, but also gives a 
peculiar sanction to the ordinary revelations of him, for 
which I contend. 

Having thus led you from Genesis to Revelation, I con- 
clude by two inferences, which appear to me undeniable. 
The first, that it is evident our Lord, before his incarnation, 
during his stay on earth, and after his ascension into heaven, 
hath been pleased, in a variety of manners, to manifest 
himself to the children of men, both for the benefit of the 
church in general, and for the conversion of sinners, and 
the establishment of saints in particular. Secondly. That 
the doctrine I maintain is as old as Adam, as modern as St. 
John, the last of the inspired writers, and as Scriptural as 
the Old and New Testaments, which is what I wanted 
to demonstrate. 

I am, sir, (fee. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR 
LETTERS. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



I.— TO THE PARISHIONERS OF MADELEY. 

Bath, October 30, 1765. 
To those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, in and about 
Madeley : Peace be multiplied to you from God the Father, 
and from our Lord Jesus Christ, through the operations of 
the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

By the help of divine Providence, and the assistance of 
your prayers, I came safe here. I was, and am still, a 
good deal weighed down, under the sense of my own in- 
sufficiency to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to 
poor, dying souls. 

This place is the seat of Satan's gaudy throne : the 
Lord hath, nevertheless, a few names here, who are not 
ashamed of him, and of whom he is not ashamed, both 
among the poor and among the rich. There are not many 
of the last, though blessed be God for any one: it is a 
great miracle if one camel passes through the eye of a 
needle, or, in other words, if one rich person enters into 
the kingdom of heaven. I thank God, none of you are rich 
in the things of this world. You are freed from a double 
snare, even from Dives's portion in this life. May you 
know the happiness attending your state ! It is a mercy to 
be driven to the throne of grace, even by bodily want, and 
to live in dependence on divine mercy for a morsel of 
bread. 

I have been sowing the seed the Lord hath given me 
both in Bath and Bristol, and I hope your prayers have 
not been lost upon me as a minister ; for, though I have 



76 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



not been enabled to discharge my office as I would, the 
Lord hath yet, in some measure, stood by me, and over- 
ruled my foolishness and helplessness. I am much sup- 
ported by the thought, that you bear me on your hearts, 
and when you come to the throne of grace to ask a bless- 
ing for me, in the name of Jesus, the Lord does in no wise 
cast you out. 

In regard to the state of my soul, I find, (blessed be 
God,) that as my day is, so is my strength to travel on, 
either through good or bad report. My absence from you 
answers two good ends to me : — I feel more my insuffi- 
ciency, and the need of being daily ordained by Christ to 
preach his gospel ; and I shall value the more my privi- 
leges among you, please God I return safely to you. I 
had yesterday a most advantageous offer made me, of 
going, free of cost, to visit my mother, brothers, and sisters 
in the flesh, whom I have not seen for eighteen years ; 
but I find my relations in the spirit are nearer and dearer 
to me than my relations in the flesh. I have, therefore, 
rejected the kind offer, that I may return among you, and 
be comforted by the mutual faith both of you and me. 

I hope, dear brethren, you improve much under the 
ministry of that faithful servant of God, Mr. Brown, whom 
Providence blesses you with. Make haste to gather the 
honey of knowledge and grace as it drops from his lips ; 
and may I find the hive of your hearts so full of it, on my 
return, that I may share with you in the heavenly store ! 
In order to this, beseech the Lord to excite your hunger 
and thirst for Jesus's flesh and blood, and to increase vc-ur 
desire of the sincere milk of the word. When people are 
hungry, they will find time for their meals ; and a good 
appetite does not think a meal a day too much. As vou 
go to your spiritual meals do not forget to pray all the 
way, and to feast your souls in hopes of hearing some good 
news from heaven, and from Jesus, the faithful, loving 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 7f 



friend whom you have there : and when you return, be sure 
to carry the unsearchable riches of Jesus's dying and rising 
love home to your houses, in the vessel of a believing heart. 

Let your light be attended with the warmth of love. 
Be not satisfied to know the way to heaven, but walk in it 
immediately, constantly, and joyfully. Be all truly in 
earnest : you may, indeed, impose upon your brethren, by 
a formal attendance on the means of grace, but you cannot 
deceive the Searcher of hearts; let him always see your 
hearts struggling towards him ; and if you fall through 
heaviness, sloth, or unbelief, do not make a bad matter 
worse by continuing helpless in the ditch of sin and guilt. 
Up, and away to the fountain of Jesus's blood. It will not 
only wash away the guilt of past sins, but strengthen you 
to tread all iniquity under your feet for the time to come. 
Never forget, that " the soul of the diligent shall be made 
fat," and that the Lord will spew the lukewarm out of his 
mouth, unless he gets that love which makes him " fervent 
in spirit, diligent in business, serving the Lord." 

You know the way to get this love is, 1 . To consider the 
free mercy of God, and to believe in the pardoning love of 
Jesus, who " died the just for the unjust, to bring us to 
God." 2. To be frequently, if not constantly, applying this 
faith, with all the attention of your mind, and all the 
fervour of your heart — " Lord, I am lost, but Christ hath 
died." 3. To try actually to love, as you can, by setting 
your affections on Christ, whom you see not; and for his 
sake on your brethren whom you do see. 4. To use much 
private prayer for yourselves and others ; and to try to 
keep up that communion with God and your absent 
brethren. I beg, in order to this, that you will not forsake 
' 'the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of 
some is :" and when you meet as a society, be neither 
backward nor forward to speak. Esteem yourselves every 
one as the meanest in the company, and be glad to sit at the 



78 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



feet of the lowest. If you are tempted against any, 
yield not to the temptation, and pray much for that love 
which hopes all things, and puts the best construction even 
upon the worst of failings. I beg, for Christ's sake, I may 
find no divisions nor offences among you on my return. 
" If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of 
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and 
mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having 
the same love, being of one accord, and of one mind. Let 
nothing be done through strife or vain glory ; but in lowliness 
of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves/' 

I earnestly request the continuance of your prayers for 
me, both as a minister and as your companion in tribulation. 
Ask particularly, that the Lord would keep me from hurt- 
ing his cause in these parts : and that when Providence 
shall bring me back among you, I may be more thoroughly 
furnished for every good work. Pardon me, if I do not 
salute you all by name : my heart does it, if my pen does 
not. That the blessing of God in Jesus Christ may crown 
all your hearts, and all your meetings, is the earnest prayer 
of, my very dear brethren, 

Yours, &c. 
J. F. 

II.— TO THE SAME. 

Oakhall, September 23, 1166. 
To those who love or fear the Lord Jesus Christ at Madeley : 
Grace, peace, and love be multiplied to you from our God 
and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Providence, my dear brethren, called me so suddenly 
from you, that I had not time to take my leave and re= 
commend myself to your prayers: but I hope the good 
Spirit of our God, which is the Spirit of love and supplica- 
tion, has brought me to your remembrance, as the poorest 
and weakest of Christ's ministers, and, consequently, as 



• 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 79 

one whose hands stand most in need of being strengthened 
and lifted up by your prayers. Pray on, then, for your- 
selves, for one another, and for him whose glory is to 
minister to you in holy things, and whose sorrow it is not to 
do it in a manner more suitable to the majesty of the gospel, 
and more profitable to your souls. 

My heart is with you : nevertheless, I bear patiently 
this bodily separation, for three reasons. First, the variety 
of more faithful and able ministers whom you have during 
my absence, is more likely to be serviceable to you, than 
my presence among you ; and I would always prefer your 
profit to my satisfaction. Secondly, I hope Providence will 
give me those opportunities of conversing and praying with 
a greater variety of experienced Christians, which will tend 
to my own improvement, and I trust, in the end, to yours. 
Thirdly, I flatter myself, that after some weeks' absence, 
my ministry will be rcommended by the advantage of 
novelty, which (the more the pity) goes further with some, 
than the word itself. In the mean time I shall give you 
some advice, which, it may be, will prove both suitable and 
profitable to you. 

1. Endeavour to improve daily under the ministry which 
Providence blesses you with. Be careful to attend it with 
diligence, faith, and prayer. Would it not be a great shame, 
if, when ministers come thirty or forty miles to offer you 
peace and pardon, strength and comfort, in the name of 
God, any of you should slight the glorious message, or 
hear it as if it was nothing to you, and as if you heard it 
not ? See, then, that you never come from a sermon, with- 
out being more deeply convinced of sin and righteousness. 

2. Use more prayer before you go to church. Consider 
that your next appearance there may be in a coffin ; and 
entreat the Lord to give you now so to hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, that you may be filled. Hungry people 
never go fasting from a feast. Call to mind the text I 



80 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

preached from, the last Sunday but one before I left you, 
"Wherefore, laying aside all malice," &c. (1 Pet. ii, 1.) 

3. When you are under the word, beware of sitting as 
judges, and not as criminals. Many judge of the manner, 
matter, voice, and person of the preacher. You, perhaps, 
judge all the congregation, when you should judge your- 
selves worthy of eternal death ; and yet, worthy of eternal 
life, through the worthiness of Him, who stood and was 
condemned at Pilate's bar for you. The moment you have 
done crying to God, as guilty, or thanking Christ as 
reprieved criminals, you have reason to conclude, that 
this advice is levelled at you. 

4. When you have used a means of grace, and do not find 
yourselves sensibly quickened, let it be a matter of deep 
humiliation to you. For want of repenting of their unbelief 
and hardness of heart, some get into a habit of deadness 
and indolence ; so that they come to be as insensible, and 
as little ashamed of themselves for it, as stones. 

5. Beware of the inconsistent behaviour of those who 
complain they are full of wanderings in the evening under 
the word, when they have suffered their minds to wander 
from Christ all the day long. ! get acquainted with 
him, that you may walk in him and with him. Whatsoever 
you do or say, especially in the things of God, do or say 
it as if Christ was before, behind, and on every side of you. 
Indeed he is so, whether you consider it or not ; for if, 
when he visibly appeared on earth, he called himself " the 
Son of man who is in heaven," how much more, then, is he 
present on earth now, that he makes his immediate 
appearance in heaven ? Make your conscience maintain a 
sense of his blessed presence all the day long, and then all 
the day long you will have a continual feast ; for can you 
conceive anything more delightful than to be always at the 
fountain of love, beauty, and joy ; — at the spring of power, 
wisdom, goodness, and truth ? Can there be a purer and 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 81 



more melting happiness, than to be with the best of fa- 
thers, the kindest of brothers, the most generous of bene- 
factors, and the tenderest of husbands ? Now Jesus is all 
this, and much more, to the believing soul. ! believe, my 
friends, in Jesus now, through a continual now ; and until 
you can thus believe, mourn over your unbelieving hearts ; 
drag them to him, as you can ; think of the efficacy of his 
blood, shed for the ungodly, and wait for the Spirit of faith 
from on high. 

6. Some of you wonder why you cannot believe; why 
you cannot see Jesus with the eye of your mind, and 
delight in him with all the affections of your heart. I 
apprehend the reason to be one of these, or, perhaps, all of 
them. 

First, you are not poor, lost, undone, helpless sinners in 
yourselves. You indulge spiritual and refined self-righteous - 
ness ; you are not yet dead to the law, and quite slain by 
the commandment. Now the kingdom of heaven belongs 
to none but the poor in spirit. Jesus came to save none 
but the lost. What wonder, then, if Jesus is nothing to 
you, and if you do not live in his kingdom of peace, 
righteousness, and joy in the Holy Ghost ? 

Secondly. Perhaps you spend your time in curious 
reasonings, instead of casting yourselves, as forlorn sinners, 
at Christ's feet ; leaving it to him to bless you, when, and 
in the manner and degree, he pleases. Know, that he is 
the wise and sovereign God, and that it is your duty to lie 
before him as clay, as fools, as sinful nothings. 

Thirdly. Perhaps some of you wilfully keep idols of 
one kind or other ; you indulge some sin against light and 
knowledge, and it is neither matter of humiliation nor con- 
fession to you. The love of praise, of the world, of money, 
and of sensual gratifications, when not lamented, are as im- 
placable enemies to Christ as Judas and Herod. "How 
can you believe, seeing vou seek the honour that cometh 

4* 



82 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



of men?" Hew, then, your Agags in pieces before the 
Lord; run from your Delilahs to Jesus; cut off the right 
hand, and pluck out the right eye that offends you. " Come 
out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and 
I will receive you." Nevertheless, when you strive, dare 
not to make yourself a righteousness of your strivings. 
Remember that meritorious, justifying righteousness, is 
finished and brought in, and that your works can no more 
add to it, than your sins can diminish from it. Shout then, 
" The Lord our Righteousness ;" and if you feel yourselves 
undone sinners, humbly, yet boldly say, " In the Lord I 
have righteousness and strength.' ' 

When I was in London I endeavoured to make the most 
of my time : that is to say, to hear, receive, and practise 
the word. Accordingly, I went to Mr. Whitefield's taber- 
nacle, and heard him give his society a most excellent 
exhortation upon love. He began by observing, ''that 
when the apostle St. John was old, and past walking and 
preaching, he would not forsake the assembling himself with 
the brethren, as the manner of too many is, upon little or 
no pretence at all. On the contrary, he got himself carried 
to their meeting, and, with his last thread of voice, preached 
to them his final sermon, consisting of this one sentence. 
'My little children, love one another.' " I wish, I prav, I 
earnestly beseech you to follow that evangelical, apostolical 
advice ; and till God makes you all little children, little in 
your own eyes, and simple as little children, give me leave 
to say, my dear brethren, "love one another;" and, of 
course, judge not, provoke not. and be not shy one of 
another ; but " bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil 
the law of Christ." Yea, bear with one another's infirmities, 
and do not easily cast off any one : no, not for sin, except 
it is obstinately persisted in. 

My sheet is full, and so is my heart, of good wishes for 
you, and ardent longings after you all. When I return, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



83 



let me have the comfort of finding you all believing and 
loving. Farewell, my dear brethren. The blessing of God 
be with you all ! This is the earnest desire of 

Your unworthy minister, 

J. F. 

in.— TO MRS. MARY CARTWRIGHT. 

Madeley, , HIS. 

My Dear Friend,- — As it may be long before you have an 
opportunity to hear a sermon, I find myself drawn by 
friendship and pastoral care to send you a few lines, to 
meditate upon to-morrow. 

As I was longing for an opportunity to offer life, friends, 
and liberty to Him who is worth a thousand such alls, I 
thought I must wait for no other opportunity, and found 
another blessing in using the present moment. I did not 
forget to offer you among my friends, and I found it on my 
mind to pray and praise with you ; and to beseech you to 
fulfil my joy, by giving me to see you all glorious within, 
and full of eager desire to be with our everlasting Friend. 
0, let us take a thousand times more notice of him, till the 
thought of him engrosses all other thoughts, the desire of 
him all other desires ! 

Nothing can reconcile me to let my fiiends go, but the 
fullest evidence that they are going to Jesus. If you go 
before me, let me not want that comfort. Let me never 
see you, but full of an earnest desire to do and suffer the 
will of our God. I wanted to see heavenly joy and glory 
beaming from your eyes last night, and I feared I saw 
them not. Pardon my fears, if they have no foundation. 
Charity thinks no evil, hopes all, and yet it is jealous with a 
godly jealousy ; and the warmer the charity, the stronger 
and keener the jealousy. A doubt passed through my 
mind, whether you had not caught our dulness, whether 



b4 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



your soul is as near to God as it was some weeks ago. 
! if the multiplied mercies of God toward us do not 
rouse us to the third heaven of gratitude, what will ? 

My prayer, my ardent prayer to God, and I make it 
now afresh, with tears of desire, is, that you may live as 
one who does not depend on another breath. Come, my 
dear friend, up with your heart, and spread the arms of 
your faith. Welcome Jesus. Believe till you are drawn 
above yourself and earth — till your flaming soul mounts, 
and loses itself in the Sun of righteousness. I want you 
to be a burning, shining light, setting fire to all the thatch 
of the devil, and kindling every smoking flax around you. 
Disappoint not the Saviour's hope, and mine. I expect to 
see you not only a risen Lazarus, and a spared Hezekiah, 
but a Mary at Jesus's feet, a Deborah in the work of the 
Lord. — There is what St. Paul calls a " being beside our- 
selves,'' which becomes you so much the better, as you 
are restored to us against hope — and for how long we 
know not. 

Fulfil my joy, I say, which must droop till I can re- 
joice over you living, dying, or dead, " with joy unspeak- 
able and full of glory." Give yourself much to believing, 
thankful, solemn prayer. I was condemned for not making 
more of the solemn opportunity I had with you last Thurs- 
day. ! if we are spared to meet again, let us pray until 
we wind our hearts into ardent praise, and then let us praise 
until we are caught up to heaven. Hold up our hands to- 
morrow, and if we meet on Monday, be it in the name of 
Christ, to pour the oil of joy into each other's hearts, by 
confessing him more heartily our God, our life, our present 
and never-dying friend. Farewell in him every way. 

Yours, <fec. 

J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 85 



IV.— TO MR. MICHAEL ONIONS. 

Bristol, July 11, 1776. 
My Dear Brother, — Having just seen at the Wells, Mr. 
Darby, who is going back to the Dale, I gladly seize the 
opportunity of letting you know what the Lord does for 
my soul and body. With respect to my better part, I feel 
a degree of righteousness, peace, and joy, and wait for the 
establishment of his internal kingdom in the Holy Spirit ; 
and the hopes of my being rooted and grounded in the love 
that casts out every degree of slavish fear, grow more 
lively every day. I thank God I am not afraid of any 
evil tidings ; my heart stands calm, believing in the 
Lord, and desiring him to do with me whatsoever he 
pleases. With respect to my body, I know not what to 
say, but the physician says, he hopes I shall do well ; and 
so I hope and believe too, whether I recover my strength 
or not. Health and sickness, life and death, are best when 
the Lord sends them ; and all things work together for 
good to those that love God. 

I am forbid preaching ; but, blessed be God, I am not 
forbid, by my heavenly Physician, to pray, believe, and 
love. This is a sweet work, which heals, delights, and 
strengthens. Let us do it till we recover our spiritual 
strength ; and then, whether we shall be seen on earth or 
not will matter nothing. I hope you bear me on your 
hearts, as I do you on mine. My wish for you is, that you 
may be real possessors of an inward kingdom of grace : 
that you may so hunger and thirst after righteousness as to 
be filled ; and that you may so call on your heavenly 
Father in secret, that he may reward you openly with 
abundance of grace, which may evidence to all, that he 
honours you because you honour him. O ! be hearty in 



86 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



the cause of religion. I would have you either hot or 
cold; for it is a fearful thing to be in danger of falling 
into the hands of the living God, and sharing the fate of 
the lukewarm. Be humbly zealous for your own salvation 
and for God's glory ; nor forget to care for the salvation 
of each other. The case of wicked Cain is very common, 
and the practice of many says, with that wretch, " Am I 
my brother's keeper ?" O ! pray God to keep you by his 
mighty power, through faith, to salvation. Keep your- 
selves in the love of God, if you are there ; and keep one 
another by example, reproof, exhortation, encouragement, 
social prayer, and a faithful use of all the means of grace. 
Use yourselves to bow at Christ's feet, as your Prophet ; 
go to him continually for the holy anointing of his Spirit, 
who will be a teacher always near, always with you, always 
in you. If you have the inward Instructer, you will suffer 
no material loss, when your outward teachers are removed. 
Make the most of dear Mr. Greaves while you have him. 
While you have the light of God's word, believe in the 
light, that you may be the children of the light, fitted for 
the kingdom of eternal light, where I charge you to meet, 
with joy, 

Your affectionate brother and minister, 

J. F. 

V.— TO THE PARISHIONERS OF MADELEY. 

Bristol, Oct. — 111 6. 
To all who fear and love God in and about Madeley ; 
Grace and peace, power and love, joy and triumph in 
Christ, be multiplied to you, through the blood of the 
Lamb, through the word that testifies of the blood, and 
through the Spirit who makes the application. 

I expected I should have been with you to see your 
love, and be edified by your conversation, but Providence 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



87 



lias hindered. Twice I had fixed the day of my departure 
from this place ; and twice, the night before that day, I 
was taken worse than usual, which, together with the 
unanimous forbiddings of my spiritual, temporal, and med- 
ical friends here, made me put off my journey. The 
argument to which I have yielded is this : 66 There is yet 
some little probability, that if you stay here you might 
recover strength to do a little ministerial work ; but if 
you go now you will ruin all." However, God is my wit- 
ness, that if I have not ventured my life to come and see 
you, it was not from a desire to indulge myself, but to wait 
and see if the Lord would restore me a little strength, and 
add a few years to my life, that I might employ both in 
your service ; just as a horse is sometimes kept from his 
owner, and confined to the yard of a farrier, until he 
recovers the ability of doing his master some service. I 
only desire to know, do, and suffer the will of God con- 
cerning me ; and I assure you, my dear brethren, if I saw 
it to be his will, that I should give up the means of health 
I have here, I would not tarry another day, but take my 
chance, and come to my dear charge, were the parish 
situated ten times more north than it is. 

I do not, however, despair of praising God with you in 
the body ; but let us not stay for this to praise him. Let 
us bless him now ; and if any of you are under a cloud of 
unbelief, and see no matter of praise in being out of hell, 
in being redeemed by Christ, crowned with thousands of 
spiritual and temporal mercies, and called to take possession 
of a kingdom of glory ; I beg you would praise him on my 
account, who raises me so many friends in time, who afflicts 
me with so gentle a hand, who keeps me from all im- 
patience, and often fills me with consolation in my trouble ; 
giving me a sweet hope, that all things work, and shall 
work, together for good. 

Love one another. The love you show one to another 



88 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



will greatly refresh my heart. Keep united to our com- 
mon head, — Jesus. Pray for your infirm minister, as he 
does for you ; and let me hear of your growth in grace, 
which will be health to the withering bones of, 

Your unprofitable servant. 

J. F. 

P. S. Medicine does not seem to relieve me ; but I 
rejoice that when outward remedies fail, there is one, the 
blood, and word, and Spirit of Jesus, which never fails ; — 
which removes all spiritual maladies, and will surely give 
us eternal life. Let me recommend that remedy to you 
all : you all want it, and, blessed be God, I can say, Pro- 
batum est, — " tried." 

VI. — TO THE SAME. 

Newington, Dec. 28, 1776. 
My Dear Parishioners, — I hoped to have spent the Christ- 
mas holidays with you, and to have ministered to you in 
holy things ; but the weakness of my body confining me 
here, I humbly submit to the divine dispensation, and ease 
the trouble of my absence, by being present with you in 
spirit, and by reflecting on the pleasure I have felt, in years 
past, while singing with you, " Unto us a Child is born, 
unto us a Son is given," &c. This truth is as true now as 
it was then, and as worthy to be thankfully received at 
Newington as at Madeley. Let us then receive it with 
readiness, and it will unite us ; we shall meet in Christ, 
the centre of lasting union, the source of true life, the 
spring of pure righteousness and joy ; and our hearts shall 
be full of the song of angels, " Glory be to God on high ! 
Peace on earth ! Good -will toward each other, and all 
mankind !" 

In order to this, may the eye of your understanding be 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 89 



more and more opened, to see your need of a Redeemer ; 
and to behold the suitableness, freeness, and fulness of 
the redemption which was wrought out by the Son of 
God, and which is applied by the Spirit through faith. 
The wish which glows in my soul is so ardent and power- 
ful, that it brings me down on my knees while I write, 
and in that supplicating posture, I entreat you all to con- 
sider and improve the day of your visitation, and to prepare 
in good earnest to meet, with joy, your God and your 
unworthy pastor in another world. Weak as I was when 
I left Madeley, I hear that several, who were then young, 
healthy, and strong, have got the start of me ; and that 
some have been hurried into eternity, without being in- 
dulged with a moment's warning. May the awful accident 
strike a deeper consideration into all our souls ! May the 
sound of their bodies, dashed to pieces at the bottom of 
a pit, rouse us to a speedy conversion, that we may never 
fall into the bottomless pit, and that iniquity and delays 
may not be our eternal ruin ! Tottering as I stand on the 
brink of the grave, some of you, who seem far from it, may 
drop into it before me ; for what has happened may happen 
again. 

Let us all then awake out of sleep : and let us all pre- 
pare for our approaching change, and give ourselves no 
rest, till we have got gospel ground to hope that our great 
change will be a happy one. In order to this, I beseech 
you, by all the ministerial and providential calls you have 
had for these seventeen years, harden not your hearts. 
Let the hundreds I have buried, lead us all to repentance. 
Dismiss your sins, and embrace Jesus Christ, who wept for 
you in the manger, bled for you in Gethsemane, hanged for 
you on the cross, and now pleads for you on his media- 
torial throne. By all that is near and dear to you, as men 
and as Christians, meet me not on the great day in your 
sins and in your blood, enemies to Christ by unbelief, and 



90 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



to God by wicked works. Meet me in the garment of re- 
pentance, in the robe of Christ's merits, and in the white 
linen (the purity of heart and life) which is the holiness of 
the godly; — that "holiness, without which no man shall 
see God." Let the time past suffice in which some of you 
have lived in sin. By repentance put off the old man and 
his works ; by faith put on the Lord Jesus and his righteous- 
ness. Let all wickedness be gone, for ever gone, with the 
old year ; and with the new one begin a new life — a life 
of renewed devotion to God, and of increasing love to our 
neighbour. 

The sum of all I have preached to you, is contained in 
four propositions : First. Heartily repent of your sins, 
original and actual. Secondly. Believe the gospel of Christ 
in sincerity and truth. Thirdly. In the power which true 
faith gives, (for all things commanded are possible to him 
that believeth,) run with humble faith the way of God's 
commandments before God and men. Fourthly. By con- 
tinuing to take up your cross, and to receive the pure milk 
of God's word, grow in grace and in the knowledge of 
Jesus Christ. So shall you grow in peace and joy all the 
days of your life ; and when rolling years shall be lost in 
eternity, you will for ever grow in bliss and heavenly glory. 

what bliss ! what glory ! The Lord shall be our sun and 
our crown ; and we shall be jewels in each other's crown, — 

1 in yours and you in mine. For ever we shall be with the 
Lord and with one another. We shall all live in God's hea- 
venly church, the heaven of heavens. All our days will be 
a Sabbath, and our Sabbath eternity. No bar of business 
nor sickness, no distance of time nor place, no gulf of death 
and the grave, shall part us more. We shall meet in the 
bosom of Abraham, who met Christ in the bosom of divine 
love. what a meeting ! And shall some of us meet there 
this very year, which we are just entering upon ? What a 
year ! O ! that blessed year ! If we are of the number of 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 91 



those who die in the Lord, our souls shall burst the womb 
of this corruptible flesh ; we shall be born into the other 
world ; we shall behold the Sun of righteousness without a 
cloud, and forever bask in the beams of his glory. Is not 
this prospect glorious enough to make us bid defiance to 
sin and the grave ; and to join the cry of the Spirit and 
the Bride, " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly," though it 
should be in the black chariot of death ? 

Should God bid me to stay on earth a little longer, to 
serve you in the gospel of his Son ; should he renew my 
strength (for no work is impossible with him) to do among 
you the work of a pastor, I hope I shall, by God's grace, 
prove a more humble, zealous, and diligent minister than I 
have hitherto been. Some of you have supposed that I 
made more ado about eternity and your precious souls 
than they were worth ; but how great was your mistake ! 
Alas ! it is my grief and shame that I have not been, both 
in public and private, a thousand times more earnest and 
importunate with you about your spiritual concerns. Par- 
don me, my dear friends, pardon me my ignorances and 
negligences in this respect. And as I most humbly ask 
your forgiveness, so I most heartily forgive any of you, 
who may at any time have made no account of my little 
labours. I only entreat such now to evidence a better mind, 
by paying a double attention to the loud warnings of Provi- 
dence, and to the pathetic discourses of the faithful minister 
who now supplies my place. And may God, for Christ's 
sake, forgive us all, as we forgive one another ! 

The more nearly I consider death and the grave, judg- 
ment and eternity, the more, blessed be God, I feel that I 
have preached to you the truth, and that the truth is solid 
as the Rock of Ages. Glory be to his divine grace, I can 
say, in some degree, " Here is firm footing." Follow me, 
and the sorrows of death, instead of encompassing you 
around, will keep at an awful distance ; and with David, we 



92 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



shall follow our great Shepherd, even through the dreary 
valley, without fearing or feeling any evil. 

Although I hope to see much more of the goodness of 
the Lord in the land of the living than I do see ; yet, blessed 
be the divine mercy, I see enough to keep my mind at all 
times unruffled, and to make me willing calmly to resign 
my soul into the hands of my faithful Creator, my loving 
Redeemer, and my sanctifying Comforter, this moment, or 
the next, if he call for it. I desire your public thanks for 
all the favours he showeth me continually, with respect to 
both my soul and body. Help me to be thankful ; for it is 
a pleasant thing to be thankful. May our thankfulness 
crown the new year, as God's patience and goodness have 
crowned all our life. Permit me to bespeak an interest in 
your prayers also. Ask that my faith may be willing to 
receive all that God's grace is willing to bestow. Ask that 
I may meekly suffer, and zealously d-; all the will of God, 
in my present circumstances ; and that, living or dying, I 
may say, with the witness of God's Spirit, " For me to live 
is Christ, and to die is gain." 

If God calls me soon from earth, I beg he may, in his 
good providence, appoint a more faithful shepherd over 
you. You need not fear that he will not : you see, that for 
these many months, you have not only had no famine of 
the word, but the richest plenty ; and what God has done 
for months, he can do for years ; yea, for all the years of 
your life. Only pray ; " ask, and you shall receive." 
Meet at the throne of grace, and you shall meet at the 
throne of glory, 

Your affectionate, obliged, and unworthy minister. 

J, F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 93 



VII. — TO MR. WILLIAM WASE. 

Newington, Jan. 13, 1777. 
Mv Dear Brother, — I am two kind letters in your debt. 
I would have answered them before, but venturing to ride 
out in the frost, the air was too sharp for my weak lungs, 
and opened my wound, which has thrown me back again. 

I am glad to see, by your last, that you take up your 
shield again. You will never prove a gainer by vilely 
casting it away. Voluntary humility, despondency, or 
even a defeat, should not make you give up your confi- 
dence ; but rather make you hug your shield, and em- 
brace your Saviour with redoubled ardour and courage, 
" To whom should you go but to him, who hath the words 
of everlasting life ?" And if you give up your faith, do you 
not block up the way by which you should return to him ? 
Let it be the last time you compliment the enemy with 
what you should fight for, to the last drop of your blood. 

You must not be above being employed in a little way. 
The great Mr. Grimshaw was not above walking some 
miles, to preach to seven or eight people ; and what are 
we compared to him ? Our neighbourhood will want you 
more when Mr. Greaves and I are gone. In the mean 
time, grow in meek, humble, patient, resigned love ; and 
your temper, person, and labours will be more acceptable 
to all around you. I have many things to say to you 
about your soul ; but you will find the substance of them 
in two sermons of Mr. Wesley's, the one entitled, "The 
Devices of Satan ;" and the other, "The Repentance of 
Believers." I wish you would read one of them every day, 
till you have reaped all the benefit that can be got from 
them : nor eat your morsel alone, but let all be benefited 
by the contents. I am, &c, 

J. F. 



94 PASTORAL A>~D FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



VIII.— TO THE SAME. 

^EwiyGToy. Feb. 18, 1777. 
My Dear Brother.. — My dear friend Mr. Ireland brought 
me last week Sir John Elliot, who is esteemed the greatest 
physician in London, in consumptive cases. He gave 
hopes of my recovery upon using proper diet and means. 
I was bled yesterday for the thud time ; and my old doctor 
thinks, by gentle evacuations and spring herbs, to mend my 
juices. Be that as it may. I calmly leave all to God, and 
use the means without trusting in them. I am perfectly 
taken care of by my kind friends, whom I recommend to 
your prayers, as well as myself. 

With respect to my soul. I calmly wait, in unshaken 
resolution, for the full salvation of my God : ready to trust 
him, and to venture on his faithful love, and on the sure 
mercies of David, either at midnight, noonday, or cock- 
crowing : for my times are in his hand, and his time is best, 
and is my time. Death has lost Iris sting : and, I thank 
God, I know not what hurry of spirit is, or unbelieving 
fears, under my most terrifying symptoms. Glory be to 
God, in Christ, for this unspeakable mercy ! Help me to 
praise him for it. 

You talk of my " last trials." I can hardly guess what 

you mean, unless Mr. should have mistaken tears of 

holy shame before God, and of humble love to my oppo- 
nents, for great trials ; but they only indicated such a trial, 
as I pray God to make me live and die in : I mean a deep 
sense of my unworthiness, and of what I have so often 
prayed for, in these words — 

" I would be by myself abhorr'd. 
All glory be to Christ my Lord." 

I thank you, however, for the comfort you administer to 
me, upon, I suppose, Mr, 's mistake. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



95 



With respect to oiir intended room, I beg Mr. Palmer, 
Mr. Lloyd, and yourself, to consult about it, and that Mr. 
Palmer would contract for the whole. For my own part, 
I shall contribute £100, including £10 I have had for it 
from Mr. Ireland, and £10 from Mr. Thornton. Give my 
kindest love to all friends and neighbours. I would mention 
all their dear names, but am strictly forbidden a longer 
epistle. Farewell in Jesus. Yours, 

J. F. 

P. S. If the room cannot be completed for what I have 
mentioned, and £20 more be wanting, ask Mr. Lloyd how 
much the royalty might come to, and tell him I would 
appropriate it to the building. J. F. 

IX.— TO MR. MICHAEL ONIONS. 

Bath, July 8, 1777. 
My Dear Brother, — I heartily thank you for your kind 
letter : and, by you, desire to give my best thanks to the 
dear companions in tribulation whom you meet, and who so 
kindly remember so worthless and unprofitable a minister 
as I. May the God of all grace and love, our common 
Father, and our all, bless you all, and all our brethren, 
with all blessings spiritual, and with such temporal favours 
as will best serve the end of your growth in grace ! 

My desire is, if I should be spared to minister to you 
again, to do it with more humility, zeal, diligence, and 
love ; and to make more of you all than I have done. But, 
as matters are, you must take the will for the deed. Let us 
all praise God for what is past, and trust him for what is to 
come. The Lord enable you to cleave together in Christ, 
and in him to abide in one mind, striving together for the 
hope of the gospel, the fulness of the Spirit, and that king- 
dom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, 
of which we have so often discoursed together, but into 



96 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



which we have not pressed with sufficient ardour and 
violence. God give us the humble, violent faith, which 
inherits the promise of the Father, that we may triumph in 
Christ, and adorn his gospel in life and death. 

I hope to see you before the summer is ended, if it 
please God to spare me, and give me strength for the jour- 
ney. I am, in some respects, better than when I came 
here, and was enabled to bury a corpse last Sunday, to 
oblige the minister of the parish ; but whether it was that 
little exertion of voice, or something else, bad symptoms 
have returned since. Be that as it may, all is well ; for He 
that does all things well, rules and overrules all. I have 
stood the heats we have had these two days, better than I 
expected. I desire you will help me to bless the Author 
of all good, for this and every other blessing of this life ; 
but, above all, for the lively hopes of the next, and for 
Christ our common hope, peace, joy, wisdom, righteousness, 
salvation, and all. In him I meet, love, and embrace you. 
God bless you all, and crown you with loving kindness 
and tender mercy all the day long! I live if you stand. 
Do not let me want the reviving cordial of hearing that 
you stand together firm in the faith, broken in humility, 
and rejoicing in the living hope of the glory of God. Look 
much at Jesus. Bless God much for the gift of his only 
begotten Son. Be much in private prayer. Forsake not 
the" assembling yourselves together in little companies, as 
well as in public. Walk in the sight of death and eternity ; 
and ever pray for 

Your affectionate, but unworthy minister, 

J. F. 

X.— TO THE PARISHIONERS OF MADELEY. 

Newington, Jan. 13, 1777. 
My Dear Companions in Tribulation, — All the children 
of God I love : my delight is in them that excel in strength, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



97 



and my tenderest compassions move toward those that ex- 
ceed in weakness. But of all the children of God, none 
have so great a right to my peculiar love as you. Your 
stated or occasional attendance on my poor ministry, and 
the countless thousands of steps you have taken to hear the 
word of our common Lord from my despised pulpit, as well 
as the bonds of neighbourhood, and the many happy hours 
I have spent before the throne of grace with you, endear 
you peculiarly to me. 

With tears of grateful joy, I recollect the awful moments, 
when we have, in the strength of our dear Redeemer, bound 
ourselves to stand to our baptismal vow : to renounce all 
sin, to believe all the articles of the Christian faith, and to 
keep God's commandments to the end of our life ; espe- 
cially the new commandment which enjoins us to love one 
another, as Christ has loved us. ! my dear brethren, let 
this repeated vow, so reasonable, so just, and so comfort- 
able, appear to us worthy of our greatest regard. For my 
own part, asking pardon of God, and you all, for not having 
exulted more in the privilege of keeping that vow every day 
better, and of loving you every hour more tenderly, I am 
not at all discouraged; but determine with new courage 
and delight to love my neighbour as myself ; and to love 
our covenant God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, with all 
my mind, heart, and strength ; with all the powers of my 
understanding, will, and affections. This resolution is bold, 
but it is evangelical ; being equally founded on the precept 
and promise of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose cleansing 
blood can atone for all our past unfaithfulness, and whose 
almighty Spirit can enable us to perform all gospel obedi- 
ence for the time to come. 

I find much comfort, in my weak state of health, from 
my relation to my covenant God ; and by my relation to 
him as my covenant God, I mean, 1. My clear, explicit 
knowledge of the Father as my Creator and Father ; who 



98 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



" so loved the world," you and me, as to give " his only- 
begotten Son, that we should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life." ! my dear friends, what sweet exclamations, 
what endearing calling of " Abba, Father," will ascend from 
our grateful hearts, if we say, with St. Paul, " He that 
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, 
how freely will he give us all things," with that capital 
gift! 

2. I mean by my covenant relation, my relation to the 
adorable Person, who, with the strength of his Godhead, 
and the strength of his pure manhood, took away my sin, 
and reconciled our fallen race to the divine nature, making 
us capable of recovering the divine union from which Adam 
fell. how does my soul exult in that dear Mediator ! 
How do I hide my poor soul under the shadow of his 
wings ! There let me meet you all. Driven to that true 
mercy-seat by the same danger, drawn by the same pre- 
serving and redeeming love ; invited by the same gospel 
promises, and encouraged by each other's example, and by 
the example of that cloud of witnesses, who have passed 
into the kingdom of God by that precious door, let us by 
Christ return to God ; let us in Christ find our reconciled 
God ; and may that dear commandment of his, " Abide in 
me," prove every day more precious to our souls. If we 
abide in him, by believing that he is our way, our truth, 
and our life ; by apprehending him as our Prophet or 
wisdom, our Priest or righteousness, our King or sanctifica- 
tion and redemption, we shall bear fruit, and understand 
what is meant by these Scriptures, " In him I am well 
pleased ;" " Accepted in the beloved ;" " There is no con- 
demnation to them that are in Christ Jesus ;" " God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself," &c. O the 
comfort of thus cleaving to Christ by faith ; of thus finding 
that Christ is our all ! In that centre of life let us all meet, 
and death itself will not separate us ; for Christ, our life, is the 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 99 



resurrection ; and Christ, our common resurrection, will bring 
us back from the grave, to worship him altogether, where 
absence and sickness shall interrupt and separate us no 
more. 

I sometimes feel a desire of being buried where you are 
buried, and having my bones lie in a common earth-bed 
with yours ; but I soon resign that wish ; and leaving that 
particular to Providence, I exult in thinking, that whatever 
distance there may be between our graves, we can now 
bury our sins, cares, doubts, and fears, in the one grave of 
our divine Saviour; and that we rejoice each of us in our 
measure, that neither life nor death, neither things present 
nor things to come, shall ever be able (while we hang on 
the Crucified, as he hung on the cross) to separate us from 
Christ our Head, nor from the love of each other, his 
members. 

Love, then, one another, my dear brethren, I entreat 
you ; by the pledges of redeeming love, which I have so 
often given you, while I said, in his name, " The body of 
Christ which was given for thee ; the blood of Christ 
which was shed for thee," to reconcile thee to God, and 
cement thee to the brethren ; by these pledges of divine 
love, I entreat you love one another. If I, your poor un- 
worthy shepherd, am smitten, be not scattered ; but rather 
be more closely gathered unto Christ, and keep near each 
other in faith and love, till you all receive our second Com- 
forter and Advocate in the glory of his fulness. You 
know I mean the Holy Spirit, the third person in our co- 
venant God; "He is with you;" but, if you plead "the 
promise of the Father, which," says Christ, "you have 
heard of me, he will be in you." He will fill your souls 
with his light, love, and glory, according to that verse 
which we have so often sung together, — 

" Refining fire, go through my heart, 
Illuminate my soul : 



100 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



Scatter thy life through every part, 
And sanctify the whole." 

This indwelling of the Comforter perfects the mystery of 
sanctification in the believer's soul. This is the highest 
blessing of the Christian covenant on earth. Rejoicing in 
God our Creator, in God our Redeemer, let us look for the 
full comfort of God our Sanctifier. So shall we live and 
die in the faith, going on from faith to faith, from strength 
to strength, from comfort to comfort, till Christ is all in all 
to us all. 

My paper fails, but not my love. It embraces you all 
in the bowels of Jesus Christ ; to whose love I earnestly 
recommend you, earnestly desiring you would recommend 
to his faithful mercy, 

Your affectionate friend and brother, your unworthy 
pastor and fellow-helper in the faith, 

J. F. 

P. S. I earnestly recommend to you all my dear brother 
Greaves. Show him all the love you have shown to me, 
and, if possible, show him more, who is so much more 
deserving. 

XL— TO MR. THOMAS YORK AND DANIEL EDMUNDS. 

Bristol, November — , 1777. 
My Dear Friends, — I have received Mr. York's kind letter, 
and am encouraged, by the spirit of love and kindness which 
it breathes, as well as by your former offer of helping me 
off with my burdens, to beg you would settle temporal af- 
fairs for me. 

The debt of gratitude I owe to a dying sister, who once 
took a very long journey to see me, when I was ill in Ger- 
many, and whom I just stopped from coming, last winter, 
to Kewington to nurse me ; the unanimous advice of the 
physicians whom I have consulted, and the opportunity of 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 101 



travelling with serious friends, have at last determined me 
to remove to a warmer climate. As it is doubtful, very 
doubtful, whether I shall be able to stand the journey ; 
and, if I do, whether I shall be able to come back to Eng- 
land ; and, if I come back, whether I shall be able to serve 
my church; it is right to make what provision I can to 
have it properly served while I live, and to secure some 
spiritual assistance to my serious parishioners when I shall 
be no more. I have attempted to build a house in Madeley 
Wood, about the centre of the parish, where I should be 
glad the children might be taught to read and write in the 
day, and the grown-up people might hear the word of God 
in the evening, when they can get an evangelist to preach 
it to them ; and where the serious people might assemble 
for social worship when they have no teacher. 

This has involved me in some difficulties about discharg- 
ing the expense of that building, and paying for the ground 
it stands upon ; especially when ill health has put me on 
the additional expense of an assistant. If I had strength, I 
would serve my church alone, board as cheap as I could, 
and save what I could from the produce of the living, to 
clear the debt, and leave that little token of my love free 
from encumbrances to my parishioners. But as Providence 
orders things otherwise, I have another object, which is to 
secure a faithful minister to serve the church while I live. 
Providence has sent me dear Mr. Greaves, who loves the 
people, and is loved by them. I should be glad to make 
him comfortable ; and as all the care of the flock, by my 
illness, devolves upon him, I would not hesitate for a mo- 
ment to let him have all the profit of the living, if it were 
not for the debt contracted about the room. My difficulty 
lies, then, between what I owe to my fellow -labourer, and 
what I owe to my parishioners, whom I should be sorry to 
have burdened with a debt contracted for the room. 

My agreement with Mr. Greaves was to allow him forty 



102 PASTORAL AIST) FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

guineas a year, out of which I was to deduct twelve for his 
board ; but as I cannot board him while I go abroad, I 
design to allow him, during mv absence, £50 a year, to- 
gether with the use of my house, furniture, garden, and 
my horse, if he chooses to keep one, reserving the use of a 
room, and stall in the stable, to entertain the preachers 
who help us in then round ; not doubting but that the se- 
rious people will gladly find them and their horses proper 
necessaries. But I know so little what my income may 
- come to, that I am not sure whether it will yield Mr. 
Greaves £50, after paying all the expenses of the living. 
Now, I beg that you will consult together, and see whether 
the vicar's income, that is, tithes, drc. &c., will discharge all 
the expenses of the living, and leave a residue sufficient to 
pay a stipend of £50. I except the royalty, which I 
have appropriated to the expense of the room. If it be, 
well : if there be any surplus, let it be applied to the room ; 
if there be anything short, then Mr. Greaves may have the 
whole, and take his chance in that respect, as it will only 
be taking the vicar's chance ; for I doubt, if sometimes, 
after necessary charges defrayed, the vicars have a 
clear £50. 

I beg you will let me know how the balance of my ac- 
count stands, that, some way or other, I may order it to be 
paid immediately ; for if the balance is against me, I could 
not leave England comfortably without having settled the 
payment, A letter will settle this business, as well as if 
twenty friends were at the trouble of taking a journey: 
and talking is far worse for me than reading or writing. 
I do not say this to put a slight upon my dear friends. I 
should rejoice to see them, if it were to answer any other 
end than that of putting on a plaster to tear it off as soon 
as it sticks. 

Ten thousand pardons of my dear friends, for troubling 
them with this scrawl about worldly matters. May God 



PASTORAL AXD FAMILIAR LETTERS 



103 



help us all so to settle our eternal concerns, that when 
we shall be called to go to our long home and heavenly 
country, we may be ready, and have our acquaintance along 
with us. I am quite tired with writing : nevertheless, I 
cannot lay by my pen without desiring my best Christian 
love to all my dear companions in tribulation, and neigh- 
bours in Shropshire ; especially to Mrs. York, Miss Simp- 
son, Mrs. Harper, Mr. Scott, when Mr. York sees him, 
Winny Edmunds, and all inquhing friends. Thank Molly 
for her good management ; and tell her I recommend her 
to our common heavenly Master ; and that if she wants to 
go to London, or come to Bristol, I shall give her such a 
character as will help her to some good place, by the 
directions of a kind Providence. I heartily thank Daniel, 
both as churchwarden and as receiver and house-steward ; 
and I beg Mr. York again to pay him a proper salary. 

I am, in the best of bonds, your affectionate neighbour, 
friend, and minister, 

J. F. 

XII.— TO MR. JEHU. 

Bristol. Nov. — . 1 777. 
Mr Dear Brother, — I thank you for all your care and 
love. Beware of an ensnaring world. You may keep the 
few things I lent you, as long as you stay at Madeley ; 
when you remove, please to give them, or the amount, to 
some of our poor brethren. Farewell in Jesus. Life and 
death are both of them a blessing. I rejoice in the will of 
God every way ; and set to my seal that he is good, faith- 
ful, and gracious to the chief of sinners, and least of all 
believers, even to vour affectionate friend, 

J. F. 



104 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XIII.— TO MR, WILLIAM WASE. 

Bristol, Nov. — , 1777. 
My Dear Brother, — Pardon the trouble I have given you 
in my temporal concerns : it is more for the poor, and the 
Lord, than for me. O, my dear friend, let us go through 
the things temporal, so as not to lose the things eternal. 
Let us honour God's truth, by believing his word ; Christ's 
blood, by hoping firmly in divine mercy ; and all the divine 
perfections, by loving God with all our hearts, and one 
another, as Christ loved us. My kind love to all the 
brethren on both sides the water. 

Go from me to Mrs. Cound ; tell her, I charge her, in 
the name of God, to give up the world, to set out with all 
speed for heaven, and to join the few that fear God about 
her. If she refuses, call again ; call weekly, if not daily, 
and warn her for me till she is ripe for glory. Tell the 
brethren at Broseley, that I did my body an injury the 
last time I preached to them on the green : but I do not 
repine at it, if they took the warning, and have ceased to 
be neither hot nor cold, and begin to be warm in zeal, love, 
prayer, and every grace. Give my love to George Cran- 
nage ; tell him to make haste to Christ, and not to doze 
away his last days. 

The physician has not yet given me up ; but, I bless 
God, I do not wait for his farewell to give myself up to 
my God and Saviour. I write by stealth, as my friends 
here would have me forbear doing it, and even talking; 
but I will never part with my privilege of writing and 
shouting, " Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory 
over sin, death, and the grave, through Jesus Christ !" To 
him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

Tell Mr. York I embrace him in spirit, and shall, if it 
please God, find an opportunity to fulfil his kind request 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 105 



by Miss Simpson, whom, together with my dear friend and 
good nurse, Mrs. Harper, I salute in the Lord. God bless 
you and yours. 

I am yours in the love of Jesus, the best of bonds, 

J. F. 

XIV. — TO THE BRETHREN WHO HEAR THE WORD 
OF GOD IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF MADELEY. 

Bristol, Nov. 26, 1777. 
My Dear Brethren, — I thank you for the declaration of 
your affectionate remembrance, which you have sent me by 
John Owen, the messenger of your brotherly love. As a 
variety of reasons, with which I shall not trouble you, 
prevent my coming to take my leave of you in person, 
permit me to do it by letter. The hopes of recovering a 
little strength to come and serve you again in the gospel, 
make me take the advice of the physicians, who say, that 
removing to a drier air and warmer climate might be of 
great service to my health. I kiss the rod which smites 
me. I adore the providence which lays me aside ; and 
beg that by this long correction of my heavenly Father, 
I may be so pruned as to bring forth more fruit, if I am 
spared. 

I am more and more persuaded that I have not declared 
unto you cunningly devised fables ; and that the gospel I 
have had the honour of preaching, though feebly, among 
you, is the power of God to salvation, to every one who 
believes it with the heart. God grant that we may all be 
of that happy number ! Want of time does not permit me 
to give you more directions ; but if you follow those which 
fill the rest of this page, they may supply the want of a 
thousand. Have, every day, lower thoughts of yourselves, 
higher thoughts of Christ; kinder thoughts of your 
brethren, and more hopeful thoughts of all around you. 

5* 



106 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS, 



Love to assemble in the great congregation, and with your 
companions in tribulation ; but, above all, love to pray to 
your Father in secret ; to consider your Saviour, who says, 
"Look unto me and be saved;" and to listen for your 
Sanctifier and Comforter, who whispers that "he stands at 
the door, and knocks, to enter into your inmost souls, and 
to set up his kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy, 
with divine power in your willing breasts." Wait all the 
day long for his glorious appearing within you ; and, when 
you are together, by suitable prayers, proper hymns, and 
enlivening exhortations, keep up your earnest expectations 
of his pardoning and sanctifying love. Let not a drop satisfy 
you ; desire an ocean, at least a fountain springing up to 
your comfort in your own souls, and flowing toward all 
around you in streams of love and delightful instructions, to 
the consolation of those with whom you converse, especially 
your brethren, and those of your own households. Do 
not eat your morsel by yourselves, like selfish, niggardly 
people ; but whether you eat the meat that perisheth, or 
that which endureth unto everlasting life, be ready to share 
it with all. "Cast your bread upon the waters," in a 
temporal and spiritual sense, and it will not be lost. God 
will bless your seed sown, and it will abundantly increase. 
Let every one with whom you converse be the better for 
your conversation. Be burning and shining lights wherever 
you are. Set the fire of divine love to the hellish stubble 
of sin. Be valiant for the truth. Be champions for love. 
Be sons of thunder against sin, and sons of consolation 
toward humble sinners. Be faithful to your God, your 
king, and your masters. Let not the good ways of God be 
blasphemed through any of you. Let your heavenly 
mindedness and your brotherly kindness be known to all 
men ; so that all who see you may wonder, and say, " See 
how these people love one another !" 



You have need of patience, as well as of faith and power. 




PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 107 



You must learn to suffer as well as to do the will of God. 
Do not, then, think it strange to pass through fiery trials : 
they are excellent for the proving, purifying, and strength- 
ening of your faith. Only let your faith be firm in a tem- 
pest. Let your hope in Christ be as a sure "anchor cast 
within the veil," and your patient love will soon outride the 
storm, and make you find there is a peace in Christ and in 
the Holy Spirit which no man can give or take away. May 
that peace be abundantly given to you from our common 
Father, our common Redeemer, and our common Sanctifier, 
our covenant God, the gracious God of Christians, whom 
we have so often vouched to be our God and our all, when 
we have been assembled together in his name. He is the 
same merciful and faithful God " yesterday, to-day, and for 
ever." Believe in his threefold name. Rejoice in every 
degree of his great salvation. Triumph in hope of the glory 
which shall be revealed. Do not forget to be thankful for 
a cup of water ; much less for being out of hell, for the 
means of grace, the forgiveness of sins, the blood of Jesus, 
the communion of saints on earth, and the future glorifica- 
tion of saints in heaven. Strongly, heartily believe every 
gospel truth, especially the latter part of the Apostles' Creed, 
Believe it, I say, till your faith becomes to you the sub- 
stance of the eternal life you hope for ; and then, come life, 
come death, either or both will be welcome to you, as, 
through grace, I find they are to me. 

I leave this blessed island for awhile ; but I trust I shall 
never leave the kingdom of God, the mount Sion, the new 
Jerusalem, the shadow of Christ's cross, the clefts of the 
rock smitten and pierced for us. There I entreat you to 
meet me. There I meet you in spirit. From thence, I trust, 
I shall joyfully leap into the ocean of eternity, to go and 
join those ministering spirits who wait on the heirs of salva- 
tion : and if I am no more permitted to minister to you in 
the land of the living, I rejoice at the thought, that I shall, 



108 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



perhaps, be allowed to accompany the angels, who, if you 
continue in the faith, will be commissioned to carry your 
souls into Abraham's bosom. If our bodies do not moulder 
away in the same grave, our spirits shall be sweetly lost in 
the same sea of divine and brotherly love. I hope to see 
you again in the flesh ; but my sweetest and firmest hope 
is to meet you where there are no parting seas, no interposing 
mountains, no sickness, no death, no fear of loving too much, 
no shame for loving too little, no apprehension of bursting 
new vessels in our lungs, by indulging the joy of seeing, or 
the sorrow of leaving, our brethren. 

In the mean time, I earnestly recommend you to the pas- 
toral care of the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, and 
to the brotherly care of one another, as well as to the minis- 
terial care of my substitute. The authority of love which 
you allowed me to exert among you for edification, I return 
to you, and divide among you, humbly requesting that you 
would mutually use it in warning the unruly, supporting 
the weak, and comforting all. Should I be spared to come 
back, let me have the joy of finding you all of one heart 
and one soul, continuing steadfast in the apostles' doctrine, 
in fellowship one with another, and in communion with our 
sin-pardoning and sin-abhorring God. This you may do, 
through grace, by strongly believing in the atoning blood 
and sanctifying Spirit of Christ, our common head and our 
common life, in whom my soul embraces you, and in whose 
gracious hands I leave both you and myself. Bear me on 
your hearts before him in praying love ; and be persuaded, 
that you are thus borne by, my dear brethren, 

Yours, &c, J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 109 



XV. — TO THE SOCIETY AT MADELEY. 

Dover, Dec. 2, 1777. 
My Dear Brethren, — By the help of divine Providence, 
and of your prayers, I have got safe to Dover ; and I find 
that the journey has, so far, been of service to me. I thought 
to have been in France by this time ; but the wind being- 
high, though favourable, the mariners were afraid to leave 
the safe harbour, lest they should be driven on the French 
cliffs too fiercely. This delay gives me an opportunity of 
writing a line to tell you, that I shall bear you on my heart 
by sea and land ; that "the earth is the Lord's, with all the 
fulness thereof that Jesus lives to pray for us ; and that 
I still recommend myself to your prayers, hoping to hear 
of your order, steadfastness, and growth of faith toward 
Christ, and in love toward each other, which will greatly 
revive your affectionate friend and brother, 

J. F. 

XVI. — TO THE SOCIETIES IN AND ABOUT MADELEY. 

Nyon, 1778. 

My Dear, very Dear Brethren, — This comes with my 
best love to you, and my best wishes that peace, mercy, 
and truth may be multiplied unto you from God the Father, 
through Jesus Christ, by the spirit of his love ; with which 
I beg your hearts and mine may be daily more replenished. 

I am yet in the land of the living, to prepare, with you, 
for the land where there is life without death, praising 
without weariness of the flesh, and loving without separa- 
tion. There I once more challenge you to meet me, with 
all the mind that was in Christ ; and may not one hoof be 
left behind ! May there not be found one Demas among 
you, turning aside from the little flock and the narrow way, 
to love and follow this present perishing world. May there 
not be one Esau, who, for a frivolous gratification, sold his 



110 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



birthright ; nor another wife of Lot, who looked back for 
the good things of the city of destruction, and was punished 
by a judgment almost as fearful as that of Ananias, Sap- 
phira, and Judas. 

My dear companions, let us be consistent ; let us seek 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all 
other things, upon your diligent, frugal, secondary endea- 
vours, shall be added unto you. Let us live daily more and 
more upon the free love of our gracious Creator and Pre- 
server, the grace and righteousness of our atoning Redeemer 
and Mediator ; nor let us stop short of the powerful, joyous 
influence of our Comforter and Sanctifier. 

Bear me on your hearts, as I do you on mine ; and meet 
me all in the heart of Christ, who is the centre of our union, 
and our common head ; humbly leaving it to him when and 
where we shall meet again. In the mean while, I beg you 
will pay a due regard to the following texts : " Love one 
another as I have loved you." "By this shall all men 
know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." 
" Little children, love not the world ; for if any man love 
the world, the love of the Father," and of the brethren, " is 
not in him." " Be of one accord, of one mind." " Let there 
be no divisions among you." " Mind not high things," but 
things which make for peace and edification. 

Farewell in Christ, till we meet in the flesh around his 
table, or in the spirit around his throne. My love and 
thanks to Mr. Murlin and Mr. Roberts. 

I am your afflicted, comforted brother, 

J. F. 

XVII. — TO THE REV. MR. GREAVES. 

Nyojt, July 18, 1778. 
My Dear Brother, — I expected to have had an answer to 
the two last letters I wrote you, but have been disappoint- 
ed of my hope. Probably your letters have miscarried in 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



Ill 



these troublesome times. I trust you lay yourself out in 
length and breadth for the good of the flock committed to 
your care. I should be glad to hear that all the flock grow 
in grace, and that the little flock grow in humble love. 
Be pleased to read the following note in the church : — 
" John Fletcher begs a further interest in the prayers of 
the congregation of Madeley ; and desires those who assem- 
ble to serve God in the church, to help him to return public 
thanks to almighty God for many mercies received, espe- 
cially for being able to do every day a little ministerial duty, 
which he considers as an earnest of the strength he should 
be glad to have, to come back soon, and serve them in the 
gospel, which he designs to do, please God, in some months. 
In the mean time, he humbly beseeches them to serve God 
as Christians, and to love one another as brethren; neg- 
lecting no means of grace, and rejoicing in all the hopes of 
glory." 

I hope, my dear brother, that you remember my request 
to you, in my letter from Dover ; and that you are glad of 
every possible help to do the people good. The harvest 
is great, the labourers are comparatively few. Pray the 
Lord to send more labourers into his harvest ; and rejoice 
when he sends us any who will help us to break up the 
fallow ground. 

Be pleased, when you have an opportunity, to read the 
following note to the societies in Madeley, Dawley, and the 
Banks : — 

My Dear Brethren, — I hope you have no need of a line to 
assure you of the continuance of my brotherly love for you. 
We are all called to grow in grace, and consequently in 
love, which is the greatest of all Christian graces. Your 
prayers for my soul and my body have not been without 
answer. Blessed be God ! Glory be to his rich mercy in 
Christ. I live yet the life of faith ; and as to my body, I 



112 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



recover some strength, which rejoices me the more, as 1* 
hope a good Providence will make way for my laying it out 
in inviting you to leave the things which are behind, and to 
press with earnestness, unity, and patience, toward the 
mark of our heavenly calling in Christ. God bless you all, 
with all the blessings brought to the Church by Christ 
Jesus, and by the other Comforter ! Fare ye all well in 
Jesus, and remember at the throne of grace, 

Your affectionate brother and servant in Christ, 

J. F. 

My love to all our kind neighbours, and to the preachers, 
whom I beg you will thank in my name. Adieu, my dear 
brother. I am yours in the Lord, 

J. F. 

XVIII. — TO MR. THOMAS YORK. 

Nton, Sept. 15, 1778. 
My Dear Brother, — I thank you for your love, and gene- 
rous care of my little temporal concerns. I long to know 
how you all do. You may see in the enclosed how I 
do in body. Blessed be the God of all consolation, though 
I have still very trying, feverish nights, and nothing but 
forced evacuations, I am kept in peace of mind ; resigned 
to his will, who afflicts me for my good, and justly sets me 
aside for my unprofitableness. Well, though I am a bruised 
vessel, yet I rest on him ; he does not break me, yea, he 
comforts me on every side. His grace within, and his 
people without, turn my trying circumstances into matter 
of praise. 

.Give my love to all your dear family, and to the two 
or three who may yet remember me at Shifthall. Also 
give my love to Daniel ; and desire him, when he gathers 
the Easter dues, to give my love and thanks to all my 
parishioners. Adieu! Yours, 

J. F, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 113 



XIX.— TO MR. WILLIAM WASE. 

Nyon, Mil, 1779. 
My Dear Friend, — I have just received yours of the 24th 
of January, and rejoice to hear of the welfare of your 
friends ; but there is no blessing here without some alloy 
of grief, and such to me was the account of the poor state 
of dear Mrs. Wase's health. The Lord be with her as a 
Comforter and Sanctifier, if he does not choose to be with 
her as a physician. Tell her, I should be glad to hold up 
her hands in her fight of affliction ; but if the poor, unpro- 
fitable, weak servant is far off, the Master, who is rich in 
mercy, who fills the whole world with his goodness and 
patience, and who has all power given him as our Brother, 
Son of man, in heaven and earth — this kind Master is near 
to her, and all his afflicted ones. Bid her from me, en- 
treat her in my name, or rather in his dear name, Jesus, 
Salvation, Resurrection, Life, Light, and Love, to look to 
him, and to make a free and constant use of him in all his 
offices. 

I recommend to her two remedies : the one is a cheerful 
resignation to the will of God, whereby her animal spirits 
will be raised and sweetly refreshed; the other is, four 
lumps of heavenly sugar, to be taken every half hour, day 
and night, when she does not sleep. I make a constant 
use of them, to my great comfort. They have quickened 
my soul when I was dying, and I doubt not but they will 
have the same effect upon hers. Our Church has already 
extracted that divine sugar from the Scripture, and put 
it into the Common Prayer-book, as the heavenly bait 
which is to draw us to the Lord's table. Though they 
have often passed through my mouth when I have called 
her there, they have lost nothing of their sweetness and 
force. " God so loved the world," &c. " If any man sin," 



114 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



&c. " It is a faithful saying," &c. " Come unto me, all 
ye that are weary," &c. God grant her abundance of the 
faith which rolls these heavenly pills in the mind, and much 
of that love which sucks their sweetness in the heart. Tell 
her, they go down best if taken in the cup of thanksgiving ; 
into which a tear of desire, of humility, of repentance, or 
of joy, might be dropped occasionally. That tear is to be 
had by simply looking to Him who sells oil to the virgins, 
who offered a springing well to the woman of Samaria, and 
opened a fountain flowing with heavenly blood and water, 
when he hung for us upon the cross. To him be praise 
and glory forever ! Amen. 

Tell my little god- daughter, Patty Cartwright, she is big 
enough and bad enough to take them ; and that the holy 
child Jesus came on purpose into the world to make them 
up for her. What a shame it is to have such a remedy so 
near, and not to make more use of it to subdue our unbe- 
lief, and cure our stupid ingratitude. 

Thank brother Costerdine and his fellow-labourers for 
their occasional help ; and may He who gives the increase 
abundantly bless it to them and to our friends. May the Lord 
vouchsafe to consecrate our little Zoar, by calling one sin- 
ner, and establishing one saint. How abundantly shall we 
be repaid for our little expense and trouble ! 

I am yours, &c. J. F. 

XX. — TO THE BRETHKEN IN AND ABOUT MADELEY. 

Nton, Feb. 11, 1779. 
My Dear Companions in Tribulation, — Peace and mercy, 
faith, hope, and love, be multiplied to you all in general, 
and to each of you in particular, from the Father of mer- 
cies, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of grace. 
I thank you for your kind remembrance of me in your 
prayers. I am yet spared to pray for you. O that I had 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 115 



more power with God ! I would bring down all heaven into 
all your hearts. Strive together in love for the living 
faith, the glorious hope, the sanctifying, perfecting love, 
once delivered to the saints. Look to Jesus. Move on ; run 
yourselves in the heavenly race, and let each sweetly draw his 
brother along, till the whole company appears before the 
redeeming God in Sion, adorned as a bride for the hea- 
venly bridegroom. • 

I hope God will, in his mercy, spare me to see you in 
the flesh ; and, if I cannot labour for you, I shall gladly 
suffer with you. If you will put health into my flesh, mar- 
row in my bones, joy in my heart, and life into my whole 
frame, be of one heart and of one soul. Count nothing 
your own but your sin and shame ; and bury that dread- 
ful property in the grave, the bottomless grave of our Sa- 
viour. Let all you are and have be his that bought you, 
and his members, for his sake. Dig hard in the gospel 
mines for hidden treasure. Blow hard the furnace of 
prayer with the bellows of faith, until you are melted into 
love, and the dross of sin is purged out of every heart. 
" There is a river that maketh glad the city of God;" it 
is the grace that flows from his throne. Jesus is the ves- 
sel, the heavenly ark : get together into him, and sweetly 
sail down into the ocean of eternity. So shall ye be true 
miners, furnacemen, and bargemen. Farewell in Jesus. 

J. F. 

XXI. — TO THE REV. MB, GREAVES. 

Nton, May 18, 1779. 
My Dear Fellow-Labourer, — My departure being de- 
layed some weeks gives me much concern, although, from 
the confidence I have in your pastoral diligence, I am easy 
about the flock you feed. 

There was last week a visitation held here, and the 
clergy of the town took my part against the visiter and 



116 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



others, who said, " I was of a sect everywhere spoken 
against." The conversation about it held so long, and was 
so trying to my grain of humility, that I went out. The 
matter, however, ended peaceably, by a vote that they 
should invite me to dinner. God ever save us from jealous 
and persecuting zeal. 

I hope, my dear friend, you go on comfortably, doing 
more and more the work of a growing evangelist. Re- 
member my love to all I mentioned in my last, to as many 
of my parishioners as you meet with, and especially to all 
our good neighbours, and to the society. God bless you 
all, and enable you to persevere in prayer for yourself, for 
the flock, (which I once more recommend to you, with the 
lambs, — the children,) and for 

Your affectionate brother, J. F. 

XXII. — TO ME. MICHAEL ONIONS. 

Nyon, May 18, 1779. 
My Dear Brother, — I have complied with the request of 
my friends to stay a little longer among them, as it was 
backed by a small society of pious people gathered here. 
Three weeks ago, they got about me, and on their knees, with 
many tears, besought me to stay till they were a little 
stronger, and able to stand alone ; nor would they rise, till 
they had got me to comply. Happy would it be for us 
all, if we prayed as earnestly to Him who can give us sub- 
stantial blessings. 

However, yesterday I spoke with a carrier at Geneva, 
to take me to London, who said he would give us a 
fortnight's notice. The Lord is always ready to give our 
hearts a lift to the kingdom of grace, through which we 
must pass to the kingdom of glory. May we be ready 
also ! The comfort of this journey is, that we all may tra- 
vel together, though our bodies are asunder ; for Christ 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 117 

the way is everywhere, and faith in his word is, like his 
word, one and the same, in every age and country. So is 
holiness, the narrow way ; for in all places we may love 
God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves. 
I hope you and all your serious friends travel thus, and 
that your journey is like that of St. Paul, who travelled 
hard, as one running for a prize, even for a crown of 
life. 

Give my kind love to all who travel in this manner. 
Invite kindly all who have not yet set out. Stir up ear- 
nestly those that loiter, especially Thomas Powis, over 
whom my heart yearns. Above all, give them the exam- 
ple of leaving the things behind, and pressing toward the 
mark with renewed vigour. Tell vour wife I hold her to her 
promise of being the Lord's more than ever, because the 
time is shorter for us both. Tell your mother I expect 
to find her a bruised reed in herself, and a pillar in Christ 
Jesus. The Lord bless your brother and his wife, with 
that child born, that son given, who shall live to restore 
to us those whom death carries away. I hope Patty 
Cartwright, with her parents, will be made strong in 
faith and patience, if not in the body. Tell Mrs. Ford I 
hope she is better in soul for her bodily weakness. If 
Mrs. Brooke is yet with her, I hope to find them sisters in 
Christ more than in Adam. I experience here that kin- 
dred in the former is stronger and dearer than in the latter. 
Tell Mr. Wase, I hope he is a widower in the Lord, devot- 
ing himself to the bringing up the Lord's family and his 
own ; both of which require close attendance. My love to 
your fellow-leaders, and by them to the companies you 
meet in prayer ; also to Mr. Hatton, and the preachers 
who help in the round. My love also waits on I. Tranter, 
T. Poole, and T. Banks, and all who meet in their houses. 
Tell them, I hope to find them growing up into Christ in 
all things, particularly in heavenly zeal and humble 



118 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



love. Salute all our dear friends and neighbours for me. 
Farewell in the Lord. I am yours in him, J. F. 

XXIII.— TO MR, THOMAS YORK. 

Nton, July 18, 1779. 
My Dear Sir, — Providence is still gracious to me, and 
raises me friends on all sides. May God reward them all, 
and may you have a double reward for all your kindness. 
I hope I am getting a little strength. The Lord has blessed 
to me a species of black cherry, which I have eaten in large 
quantities. As a proof that I am better, I can inform you 
that I have preached once in this country ; but as I was 
going to venture again, I had a return of spitting blood, so 
that I desisted. For a fortnight past, I have catechised 
the children of the town every day, and I do not find much 
inconvenience from that exercise. Some of them seem to 
be under sweet drawings of the Father ; and a few of their 
mothers begin to come, and desire me, with tears in their 
eyes, to stay in this country. They urge much my being 
born here ; and I reply, that as I was " born again " in Eng- 
land, that is, of course, the country which to me is the 
dearer of the two. My friends have prevailed on me to 
publish a poem on the praises of God, which I wrote many 
years ago. The revising it for the press is at once a busi- 
ness * and a pleasure, which I go through on horseback 
Help me, by your prayers, to ask a blessing on this little 
attempt ; and may the God of all grace, who deserves so 
much our praises for the unspeakable gift of his dear Son, 
give us such a spirit of thankful praise, that we may bless 
and praise him as David did formerly. 

Remember me in brotherly love to all your family, and 
to all friends about you, especially to those who fear God 
and love the gospel. Let us grow in humble love, which 
becomes those who believe themselves redeemed by the 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 119 



blood of the Son of God, to be a " peculiar people, zealous 
of" kind offices, and all manner of "good works." 

I wish I could procure you an estate in this fine country, 
as I hope to do Mr. Perronet, one of the physicians who 
showed me so much love when I lay sick at Paddington. 
His grandfather was a Swiss, who was naturalized in the 
reign of Queen Anne. By calling upon some of his relations, 
I have found that he is entitled to an estate of some thousand 
pounds, of which he is coming to take possession. So Pro- 
vidence prepares for me a friend, a kind physician, and a 
fellow-traveller to accompany me back to England ; where 
one of my chief pleasures will be to embrace you, if God 
spare us to meet again, and to assure you how much 
I am, my dear friend, your obliged servant, 

J. F. 

XXIV. — TO THE KEV. MR. GREAVES. 

Nroy, December 25, 1779. 
My Dear Brother, — Glory be to God for his unspeak- 
able gift ! May that Jesus — that eternal, all-creating, all- 
supporting, all-atoning, all-comforting Word, which was 
with God, and is God, and came in the likeness of sinful 
flesh to dwell among men, and to be our Emmanuel, God 
with us — may he by a lively faith be formed in our hearts ; 
and by a warm love lie and grow in the manger of our 
emptiness, filling it always with the bread that comes down 
from heaven. Though absent in body, I am with you and 
the flock in spirit. You are now at the Lord's table. ! 
may all the dear souls you have just now preached to, re- 
ceive Jesus Christ in the pledge of his dying love, and go 
home with this lively conviction : " God has given me 
eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the 
Son hath fife : I have the Son, I have life, even eternal 
life. The way, the truth, the life, and happiness are mine ; 
and now return unto thy rest, my soul." " Lord, let 



120 PASTORAJj AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



thy servant depart in peace ; for mine eyes," the eyes of 
my faith, " have seen," the hand of my faith hath handled, 
the mouth of my faith hath tasted, " thy salvation ;" a sal- 
vation present, unspeakable, and eternal. 

Glory be to God in heaven ! Peace on earth ! Love and 
good-will everywhere, but especially in the spot where 
Providence has called us to cry, "Behold what manner 
of love the Father hath testified to us, in Jesus, that we, 
children of wrath, should be made children of God," by 
that only-begotten Son of the Most High, who was born 
for our regeneration, crucified for our atonement, raised for 
our justification, and now triumphs in heaven for our sanc- 
tification, for our full redemption, and for our eternal glori- 
fication. To him be glory for ever and ever ; and may all who 
fear and love him about you say for ever, Amen, hallelujah ! 

Out of the fulness of my heart I invite them to do so ; 
but how shallow is my fulness to his ! What a drop to an 
ocean without bottom or shore ! Let us, then, receive con- 
tinually from Him, who is the overflowing and ever-present 
source of pardoning, sanctifying, and exhilarating grace ; 
and from the foot of the Wrekin, where you are, to the 
foot of the Alps, where I am, let us echo back to each 
other the joyful, thankful cry of the primitive Christians, 
which was the text here this morning, " Out of his fulness 
we have all received grace for grace." 

I long to hear from you and the flock. How do you go 
on ? Answer this and my last together, and let me know 
that you cast joyfully all your burdens on the Lord. Mr. 
Ireland sends me word, Mr. Romaine told him you were 
not very well. Take care of yourself. Lay nothing to 
heart. Should your breast be weak, preach but once on 
Sunday ; for you know the evening sermon is not a part 
of our stated duty. I say this that you may not over- do, 
and lie by, as. I do. God direct, sustain, and comfort you, 
in all things ! 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



121 



Our lord-lieutenant, being stirred up by some of the 
clergy, and believing firmly that I am banished from England, 
has taken the alarm still more, and forbidden the ministers 
to let me exhort in their houses, threatening them with the 
power of the senate if they did. They all yielded, but are 
now ashamed of it. A young clergyman, a true Timothy, 
has opened me his house, where I exhort twice a week ; 
and the other clergymen, encouraged by his boldness, 
come to our meetings. 

Give my kind pastoral love to all my flock in general, 
and to all who fear God, and love Jesus and the brethren, 
in particular. May all see and feel more abundantly the 
salvation of God ! May national distress be sanctified unto 
them ; and may they all be loyal subjects of the King of 
kings, and of his anointed, our king. May the approaching 
new year be to them a year of peace and gospel grace. 
Remember me kindly to all our neighbours whom I men- 
tioned by name in my preceding letters. I hope Molly 
takes good care of you. God bless her ! 

That you and the flock may fare well in Jesus, is the 
hearty prayer of yours, 

J. F. 

XXV— TO THE SAME. 

Nrox, March 7, 1780. 
My Dear Brother, — I long to hear from you. I hope you 
are well, and grow in the love of Christ, and of the souls 
bought with his blood, and committed to your care. May 
you have the comfort of bringing them all into the pastures 
of the gospel, and seeing them thrive under your pastoral 
care. I recommend to your care the most helpless of the 
flock — I mean the children and the sick : they most want 
your help, and they are the most likely to benefit by it ; 
for affliction softens the heart, and children are not yet quite 
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 

6 



122 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



I beg you will not fail, when you have opportunity, to 
recommend to our flock to honour the king, to study to be 
quiet, and to hold up, as much as lies in us, the hands of 
the government by which we are protected. Remember 
me kindly to Mr. Gilpin, and to all our parishioners. God 
give you peace by all means, as in his mercy he does to 
Your affectionate friend and fellow-labourer, 

J. F. 

XXVI. — TO MR. WILLIAM WASE. 

Nton, March 7, 1780. 
My Dear Brother, — I am sorry the building has come to 
so much more than I intended ; but as the mischief is done, 
it is a matter to exercise patience, resignation, and self- 
denial ; and it will be a caution in future. I am going to 
sell part of my little estate here to discharge the debt. I 
had laid by £50 to print a small work, which I wanted to 
distribute here ; but, as I must be just before I presume to 
offer that mite to the God of truth, I lay by the design, 
and shall send that sum to Mr. York. Money is so scarce 
here at this time, that I shall sell at a very great loss ; but 
necessity and justice are two great laws which must 
be obeyed. As I design on my return to England to pinch 
until I have got rid of this debt, I may go and live in one 
of the cottages belonging to the vicar, if we could let the 
vicarage for a few pounds ; and in that case, I dare say, 
Mr. Greaves would be so good as to take the other little 
house. 

My dear friend, let us die to sin ; hold fast Jesus, the 
way, the truth, and the life ; walk by faith in him, and 
not by the sight and passions of the old Adam. I hope 
the sun of affliction, which burns poor England and us, 
will ripen us all for glory. Give my best love to all our 
friends in Christ, and tell them, that the hope of seeing 
them does me good, and that I trust they will not turn it 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 123 



into bitterness ; which would be the case, if I should find 
them out of the narrow way, and out of the kingdom of 
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Lord. Salute dear 
John York ; hold up his hands for me, and bid him stand 
fast in the Lord, leaning upon the cross of Him who 
bruised the serpent's head, and overcame death, hell, and 
the grave, by pulling out sin, the sting of death. 

Farewell in Jesus Christ, J. F. 

XXVII. — TO THE REV. MR. GREAVES. 

Nton, Sept. 15, 1780. 
My Dear Fellow-Labourer, — I had fixed the time for my 
departure for this month ; but now two hindrances stand in 
my way. When I came to collect the parts of my manu- 
script, I found the most considerable part wanting ; and 
after a thousand searches, I was obliged to write it over 
again. This accident obliged me to put off my journey ; 
and now the change of weather has brought back some 
symptoms of my disorder. I speak, or rather whisper, with 
difficulty ; but I hope the quantity of grapes I begin to eat 
will have as good an effect upon me as in the two last au- 
tumns. Have patience, then, a little while. If things are 
not as you could wish, you can but do as I have done for 
many years, — "learn patience by the things which you 
suffer." Crossing our will, getting the better of our own 
inclinations, and growing in experience, are no mean ad- 
vantages ; and they may all be yours. Mr. Ireland writes 
me word, that if I return to England now, the winter will 
undo all I have been doing for my health for many years. 
However, I have not quite laid by the design of spending 
the winter with you ; but do not expect me till you see 
me. I am, nevertheless, firmly purposed, that if I do 
not set out this autumn, I shall do so next spring as early 
as I can. 



124 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



Till I had this relapse, I was able, thank God, to exhort 
in a private room three times a week ; but the lord-lieu- 
tenant will not allow me to get into a pulpit, though 
they permit the school-masters, who are laymen, to put 
on a band and read the church prayers ; so high runs 
the prejudice. The clergy, however, tell me, that if I will 
renounce my ordination, and get Presbyterian orders 
among them, they will allow me to preach ; and on these 
terms one of the ministers of this town offers me his cura- 
cy. A young clergyman of Geneva, tutor to my nephew, 
appears to me a truly converted man ; and he is so pleased 
when I tell him there are converted souls in England, 
that he will go over with me to learn English, and converse 
with the British Christians. He wrote last summer with 
such force to some of the clergy, who were stirring up the 
fire of persecution, that he made them ashamed ; and we 
have since had peace from that quarter. 

There is little genuine piety in these parts : nevertheless, 
there is yet some of the form of it ; so far as to go to 
the Lord's table regularly four times a year. There 
meet the adulterers, the drunkards, the swearers, the infi- 
dels, and even the materialists. They have no idea of 
the double damnation that awaits hypocrites. They look 
upon partaking that sacrament as a ceremony enjoined 
by the magistrate. At Zurich, the first town in this coun- 
try, they have lately beheaded a clergyman, who wanted 
to betray his country to the emperor, to whom it chiefly 
belonged. It is the town of the great reformer Zuinglius ; 
yet there they poisoned the sacramental wine a few years 
ago. Tell it not in Gath ! I mention this to show you 
there is occasion and great need to bear a testimony 
against the faults of the clergy here ; and if I cannot 
do it from the pulpit, I must try to do it from the press. 
Their canons, which were composed by two hundred and 
thirty pastors, at the time of the Reformation, are so spir- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



125 



itual and apostolic, that I design to translate them into 
English, if I am spared. 

Farewell, my dear brother. Take care, good, constant 
care, of the flock committed to your charge ; especially 
the sick and the young. Salute all our dear parishioners. 
Let me still have a part in your prayers, public and pri- 
vate ; and rejoice in the Lord, as, through grace, I am 
enabled to do in all my little tribulations. 

I am your affectionate friend and fellow-labourer, 

J. F. 

XXVIII. — TO MR. WILLIAM WASE. 

Nton, Sept. 15, 1780. 
My Dear Brother, — You also are entitled to many thanks : 
receive them from me, till I can return you something 
more substantial. Give my love and thanks to the preach- 
ers who come and help us. Enforce my little exhortation 
to the societies in much love. Go and comfort from me 
Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Cartwright ; and since God has 
placed you all in a widowed state, agree to take Jesus for 
a never-dying friend and bridegroom. Your Maker is your 
husband. He is all in all ; and what, then, have you lost ? 
Christ is yours, and all things with him. The resurrection 
day will soon come. Prepare yourselves for the marriage- 
feast of the Lamb, and till then rejoice in the expectation 
of that day. I sympathize with our sickly friends, widow 
Matthews, M. Blummer, L. Whittaker, I. York, and S. 
Aston. Salute them kindly from me. Help them to trim 
their lamps, and wait for the Bridegroom. Bid them not 
be discouraged. Thank Thomas and Nelly Fennel for their 
love to the preachers, and give them mine, as well as John 
Owen, &c, by whom I send it to the little companies they 
meet with, to call for strength, comfort, and help in time 
of need. Fare ye all well in Jesus, I say again, farewell. 
I am yours, J. F. 



126 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XXIX.— TO MR. THOMAS YORK. 

Nton, Sept. 15, 1780. 
My Dear Friend, — You see, by my letter to Mr. Greaves, 
that I am in good hopes of seeing you, at the latest, next 
spring. I have been so well, that my friends here thought 
of giving me a wife ; but what should I do with a Swiss 
wife at Madeley ? I want rather an English nurse ; but, 
more still, a mighty Saviour ; and, thanks be to God, that 
I have. Help me to rejoice in that never-dying, never- 
moving Friend. 

Having heard that my dear friend Ireland has discharged 
the greatest part of my debt, I have not sent money ; but 
I hope to bring with me £100 to make up that gap, and 
reimburse my friends in part, till I can do it altogether. 
But I shall never be able to pay you the debt of kindness 
I have contracted with you. I look to Jesus, my surety, 
for that : may he repay you a thousand fold ! Remember 
me kindly to Mrs. York, Mrs. Harper, and all that yet re- 
member your obliged friend and brother, 

J. F. 

XXX.— TO THE SOCIETIES IN AND ABOUT MADELEY. 

Nyon, September 15, 1780. 
Grace and peace, truth and love, be multiplied unto you 
all. Stand fast in the Lord, my dear brethren. Stand fast 
to Jesus ; stand fast to one another ; stand fast to the vow 
we have so often renewed together upon our knees, and at 
the Lord's table. Resolve to save yourselves altogether. 
Do not be so unloving, so cowardly, as to let one of your 
little company fall into the hands of the world and the 
devil ; and agree to crucify the body of sin altogether. 

I am still in a strait between the work which Providence 
cuts out for me here, and the love which draws me to you. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



127 



When I shall have the pleasure of seeing you, let it not be 
embittered with the sorrow of finding any of you half- 
hearted and lukewarm. Let me find you all strong in the 
Lord, and increased in humble love. Salute from me all 
that followed with us fifteen years ago. Care still for your 
old brethren. Let there be no Cain among you, no Esau, 
no Lot's wife. Let the love of David and Jonathan, 
heightened by that of Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and our 
Lord, shine in all your thoughts, your tempers, your words, 
your looks, and your actions. If you love one another, 
your little meetings will be a renewed feast ; and the God 
of love, who is peculiarly present where two or three are 
gathered together in the name of Jesus, and in the spirit 
of love, will abundantly bless you. Bear me still upon your 
breasts in prayer, as I do you upon mine ; and rejoice with 
me, that the Lord who made, redeemed, and comforts us, 
bears us all upon his. I am, yours in him, 

J. F. 

XXXI— TO MR JOHN OWEN. 

Nyox, Feb. 14, 1781. 
I thank you, my dear brother, for your kind lines. I have 
deferred answering them till I could inform you of the time 
of my departure hence, which you will see in my letter to 
Mr. Wase. I hope you help both Mr. Greaves and the 
preachers to stir up the people in my parish. Strengthen 
the things that remain, and are ready to die. I hope you 
take counsel with Michael Onions, Mrs. Palmer, and Molly 
Cartwright, about the most effectual means to recover 
the backsliders, and to keep together in Christ and to each 
other those who still hold their shield. Salute them kindly 
from me ; and tell them that I hope they will give me a 
good account of their little companies and of themselves. 

If I were not a minister, I would be a schoolmaster, to 
have the pleasure of bringing up children in the fear of 



128 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



the Lord: that pleasure is yours; relish it, and it will 
comfort and strengthen you in your work. The joy of the 
Lord and of charity, is our strength. Salute the children 
from me ; and tell them I long to show them the way to 
happiness and heaven. Pray, have you mastered the stiff- 
ness and shyness of your temper ? Charity gives a meek- 
ness, an affability, a child-like simplicity and openness which 
nature has denied you, that grace might have all the honour 
of it. Let me find you shining by these virtues, and you 
will revive me much. God bless your labour about the 
sheep and the lambs ! 

I need not tell you to remember me to your friends, not 
excepting your brother-in-law, your sister, and your niece 
Sally ; to whose friendship I recommend my god-daughter, 
Patty Cartwright. Go to James Hinksman ; give him my 
love, and ask his for me, and his old brethren. Give the 
same commission to T. Fennel and Nelly, with respects to 
Samuel Stretton and his wife ; likewise to Sergeant Lee, with 
respects to his brother Thomas ; and to I. Tranter, T. Banks, 
and T. Pool, with respects to their friends about them. 
Remember me to all friends. 

I am yours affectionately, J. F. 

P. S. Read the following note to all that fear God 
and love Jesus and each other, assembling in Madeley 
church :— 

My Dear Brethren, — -My heart leaps with joy at the 
thought of coming to see you, and bless the Lord with 
you. Let us not stay to praise him till we see each other. 
Let us see him in his Son, in his word, in his works, and in 
all the members of Christ. How slow will post-horses go 
in comparison of love ! 

" Quick as seraphic flames we move, 
To reign with Christ in endless day." 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



129 



Meet me, as I do you — in spirit ; and we shall not stay till 
April or May to bless God together : now will be the time 
of union and love. 

XXXII.— TO MR. WILLIAM WASE. 

Nyon, Feb. 14, 1781. 
My Dear Friend, — I thank you for your kind remem- 
brance of me. I need not be urged to return : brotherly 
love draws me to Madeley, and circumstances drive me 
hence. With pleasure I see the days lengthen, and hasten 
the happy hour when I shall see the little flock rejoicing in 
God, as, through mercy, I do. I am exceedingly glad that 
there is a revival on your side the water, and that you are 
obliged to enlarge your room. 

I wish I could contribute to shake the dry bones in my 
parish ; but I have no confidence in the flesh ; and what I 
could not do when I was in my strength, I have little 
prospect of doing now that my strength is broken. How- 
ever, I do not despair ; for the work is not mine, but the 
Lord's. If the few who love the gospel would be simple 
and zealous, God would again hear their prayers for those 
who are content to go on in the broad way. I thank you 
for your view of the iron bridge. I hope the word and 
the faith that works by love will erect a more solid and dura- 
ble bridge to unite those who travel together toward Sion. 

My friend Ireland invites me to go and join him in the 
south of France ; and I long to see whether I could not 
have more liberty to preach the word among the Papists 
than among the Protestants. But it is so little I can do, 
that I doubt much whether it is worth while going so far 
upon so little a chance. If I were stronger, and had more 
time, the fear of being hanged should not detain me. I 
trust to set out next month, and to be in England in May : 
it will not be my fault if it is not in April. 

6* 



130 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

I am here in the midst of the rumours of war. The 
burghers of Geneva on the side of the opposition have dis- 
armed the garrison, and taken possession of one of the gates. 
I had, however, the luck to get in and bring away my 
nephew, who is a student there. Some troops are prepar- 
ing to go and block them up. The Lord may at this time 
punish the repeated backslidings of those Laodicean Chris- 
tians, most of whom have turned infidels. This event may 
a little retard my journey, as I must pass through Geneva. 
It also puts off the printing of my manuscript ; for there is 
nothing going on in that unhappy town but disputes, and 
fights, and mounting of guards. Remember me in much 
love to Mr. Greaves, Mr. Gilpin, and the preachers who 
labour with us. ! my friend, give yourself wholly up to 
the Lord, and you will have that peace and joy, through 
Christ and righteousness, which will be worth a little heaven 
to you. Adieu. Yours, 

J. F. 

XXXIII. — TO MR. MICHAEL ONIONS. 

Nyon. March, 1781. 
I thank you, my dear brother, for your kind remembrance 
of me, and for your letters : I hope to bring my fuller 
thanks to you in person. Come, hold up your hands. 
Confirm the feeble knees. Set up an Ebenezer every hour 
of the day. " In every thing give thanks ;" and in order 
to this, "pray without ceasing, and rejoice ever more." 
My heart sympathizes with poor Molly Cartwright. Tell 
her from me, that her husband lives in Him who is the 
resurrection, and that I want her to live there with him. 
In Christ is no death, but the victory over death. let us 
live in him, to him, for him, who more than repairs all our 
losses ! I long to rejoice with her in hopes of meeting our 
departed friends where parting and trouble shall be no 
more. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 131 

My love to your wife : tell her she promised me to be 
Jesus's as well as yours. I trust her mother ripens faster 
for glory than for the grave. I hope to find her quite 
mellowed by the humble love of the gospel. My love to 
John Owen, and all our other leaders, and by them to the 
few who do not tire by the way. With regard to the 
others, take them in the arms of prayer and love, and carry 
them out of Egypt and Sodom, if they are loath to come. 
Despair of none. You know, " charity hopeth all things," 
and brings many things to pass. All things are possible 
to him that believeth ; all things are easy to him that 
loveth. God be with you, my dear brother, and make you 
faithful unto death. It is my prayer for you, and all the 
society, and all my dear neighbours, my dear parishioners, 
to whom I beg to be remembered. I have no place to 
write their names, but I pray they may be all written in 
" the book of life." God is merciful, gracious, and faithful : 
I set my seal to his loving-kindness. Witness my heart 
and hand, 

JOHN FLETCHER. 



FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XXXIV. — TO THE REV. JOHN WESLEY. 

Tern, Nov. 24, 1756. 
Reverend Sir, — As I look upon you as my spiritual guide, 
and cannot doubt of your patience to hear, and your expe- 
rience to answer a question proposed by one of your people, 
I freely lay my case before you. 

Since the first time I began to feel the love of God shed 
abroad in my soul, which was, I think, at seven years of 
age, I resolved to give myself up to him, and to the service 
of his Church, if ever I was fit for it ; but the corruption 
which is in the world, and that which was in my heart, soon 
weakened, if not erased, those first characters which grace 
had written upon it. However, I went through my studies 
with a design of going into orders ; but afterward, upon 
serious reflection, feeling I was unequal to such a bur- 
den, and disgusted by the necessity I should be . under to 
subscribe the doctrine of predestination, I yielded to the 
desire of my friends, who would have me to go into the 
army : but just before I w^as quite engaged in a military 
employment, I met with such disappointments as occasion- 
ed my coming to England. Here I was called outwardly 
three times to go into orders ; but upon praying to God, that 
if those calls were not from him, they might come to nothing, 
something always blasted the designs of my friends ; and 
in this I have often admired the goodness of God, who pre- 
vented my rushing into that important employment, as the 
horse into the battle. I never was more thankful for this 
favour than since I heard the gospel in its purity. Before, 
I had been afraid, but then I trembled to meddle with holy 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



133 



things ; and resolved to work out my salvation privately, 
without engaging in a way of life, which required so much 
more grace and gifts than I was conscious I possessed ; yet 
from time to time felt warm and strong desires to cast my- 
self and my inability on the Lord, if I should be called any 
more, knowing that he could help me, and show his strength 
in my weakness ; and these desires were increased by some 
little success which attended my exhortations and letters to 
my friends. 

I think it necessary to let you know, sir, that my patron 
often desired me to take orders, and said he would soon 
help me to a living ; to which I coldly answered, I was not 
fit, and that, besides, I did not know how to get a title. 
The thing was in that state when, about six weeks ago, a 
gentleman I hardly knew offered me a living, which, in all 
probability, will be vacant soon ; and a clergyman I never 
spoke to gave me, of his own accord, the title of curate to 
one of his livings. Now, sir, the question which I beg you 
to decide is, whether I must and can make use of that title 
to get into orders ? For, with respect to the living, were 
it vacant, I have no mind to it, because I think I could 
preach with more fruit in my native country, and in my 
own tongue. 

I am in suspense : on one side my heart tells me I must 
try, and it tells me so whenever I feel any degree of the 
love of God and man ; on the other, when I examine whether 
I am fit for it, I so plainly see my want of gifts, and espe- 
cially of that soul of all the labours of a minister, — love, con- 
tinual, universal, flaming love, that my confidence disappears ; 
I accuse myself of pride to dare to entertain the desire of 
supporting one day the ark of God ; and conclude that an 
extraordinary punishment will, sooner or later, overtake my 
rashness. As I am in both of these frames successively, I 
must own, sir, I do not see which of these two ways before 
me I can take with safety : and I shall gladly be ruled by 



134 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



you, because I trust God will direct you in giving me the 
advice you think will best conduce to his glory, which is 
the only thing I would have in view in this affair. I know 
how precious your time is, and desire no long answer: 
"Persist," or "Forbear," will satisfy and influence, 

Reverend sir, your unworthy servant, 

J. F. 

XXXV. — TO THE SAME. 

London, May 26, 1757. 
Rev. Sir, — If I did not write to you before Mrs. Wesley had 
asked me, it was not that I wanted a remembrancer within, 
but rather an encourager without. There is generally upon 
my heart such a sense of my unworthiness, that I sometimes 
dare hardly open my mouth before a child of God, and 
think it an unspeakable honour to stand before one who has 
recovered something of the image of God, or sincerely seeks 
after it. Is it possible that such a sinful worm as I should 
have the privilege to converse with one whose soul is 
sprinkled with the blood of my Lord? The thought 
amazes, confounds me, and fills my eyes with tears of hum- 
ble joy. Judge, then, at what distance I must see myself 
from you, if I am so much below the least of your children ; 
and whether a remembrancer within suffices to make me 
presume to write to you, whose shoes I am not worthy 
to bear. 

I rejoice that you find everywhere an increase of praying- 
souls. I doubt not but the prayer of the righteous hath 
great power with God ; yet I cannot believe that it should 
hinder the fulfilling of Christ's gracious promises to his 
church. He must, and certainly will, come at the time ap- 
pointed ; for he is not slack, as some men count slackness ; 
and although he would have all to come to repentance, yet 
he has not forgot to be true and just. Only he will come 
with more mercy, and will increase the light that shall be 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 135 



at eventide, according to his promise in Zechariah xiv, 7. I 
should rather think that the visions are not yet plainly 
disclosed, and that the day and year in which the Lord 
will begin to make bare his arm openly are still concealed 
from us. 

I must say to Mr. Walsh, as he once said to me concern- 
ing God : "I wish I could attend him everywhere, as Elisha 
did Elijah." But since the will of God calls me from him, 
I must submit, and drink the cup prepared for me. I have 
not seen him, unless for a few moments, three or four times 
before divine service. We must meet at the throne of grace, 
or meet but seldom. when will the communion of saints 
be complete ! Lord, hasten the time, and let me have a 
place among them that love thee, and love one another in 
sincerity. 

I set out in two days for the country. may I be faith- 
ful ! harmless like a dove, wise like a serpent, and bold as 
a lion for the common cause ! Lord, do not forsake me ! 
Stand by the weakest of thy servants, and enable thy chil- 
dren to bear with me, and wrestle with thee in my behalf. 

bear with me, dear sir, and give me your blessing every 
day, and the Lord will return it to you sevenfold. 

I am, reverend and dear sir, your unworthy servant, 

J. F. 

XXXVI,— TO MRS. GLYNNE. 

London, April 18, 1758. 
Madam, — As it is never too late to do what multiplicity of 
business, rather than forgetfulness, has forced us to defer, 

1 am not ashamed, though after some months, to use the 
liberty you gave me to inquire after the welfare of your 
soul ; and that so much the more, as I am conscious I have 
not forgotten you at the throne of grace. may my peti- 
tions have reached heaven, and forced from thence at least 
some drops of those spiritual showers of " righteousness, 



136 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," which I implore 
for you. 

Though, I trust, the unction from above teaches you all 
things needful to salvation, and especially the necessity of 
continuing instant in prayer, and watching thereunto with 
all perseverance ; yet I think it my duty to endeavour to 
add wings to your desires after holiness, by enforcing them 
with mine. O were I but clothed with all the righteous- 
ness of Christ, my prayers would avail much, and the 
lukewarmness of my brethren would not increase my guilt, 
as being myself an instance of that coldness of love which 
puts me upon interceding for them. 

Though I speak of lukewarmness, I do not accuse you, 
madam, of having given way to it ; on the contrary, it is 
my duty, and the joy of my heart, to hope that you stir up 
more and more the gift of God which is in you ; that the 
evidences of your interest in a bleeding Lord get clearer 
every day ; that the love of Christ constrains you more and 
more to deny yourself, take up your cross in all things, and 
follow him patiently through bad and good report ; in a 
word, that, continually leaving " the things which are be- 
hind," you stretch forward, through sunshine or darkness, 
"toward the prize of your high calling in Jesus Christ," — 
I mean, a heart emptied of pride, and "filled with the 
fulness of God." This is the hope which I delight to en- 
tertain- of you ; and I describe it not out of flattery, madam, 
but with an intent that if you fall short in anything, these 
lines may be an instrument, in the hand of God, to stir 
you up again, and make you look on all things as " dung 
and dross," in comparison of " the excellency of the know- 
ledge of Jesus Christ," with whom we ought to be crucified 
to the world, and the world to us. 

I have often thought of you, madam, in reading the let- 
ters of a lady,* who was a Christian, and an eminent Chris- 

^ Mrs. Lefevre. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



137 



tian, not to say one of the brightest lights that God has 
raised since the late revival of godliness. The reproach of 
Christ was her crown of rejoicing, his cross her continual 
support, his followers her dearest companions, his example 
the pattern of her conversation. She lived a saint, and died 
an angel. Each one of her letters may be a pattern for 
Christian correspondence, by the simplicity, edification, and 
love they breathe in every line. O when shall I write as 
she did ? When my heart shall be full of God as hers was. 

May the Lord enable you to walk in her steps, and grant 
me to see you shining among the humble, loving Marys of 
this age, as she did but a few months ago. Her God is 
our God. The same Spirit that animated her is waiting at 
the door of our hearts, to cleanse them, and fill them with 
his consolations, if we will but exclude the world, and let 
him in. Why should we then give way to despondency, 
and refuse to cherish that lively hope which if any one has 
he will " purify himself, even as God is pure ?" Take 
courage then, madam, and consider that the hour of self- 
denial and painful wrestling with God will be short, and 
the time of victorious recompense as long as eternity itself. 
May the Lord enable you and me to weigh that considera- 
tion in the balance of his sanctuary, and to act agreeably ; 
and may that gracious Being who invites the young man to 
honour him in the days of his youth, grant you to see him 
whom he has given you ponder those solemn truths be- 
times, and find by a happy experience that none is happier 
than he who takes early the Lord's yoke upon himself. 

I conclude by commending you to the Lord, and to 
the word of his grace : and, recommending myself to your 
prayers, I am, madam, your obedient servant for Christ's 
sake, 

J. F. 



138 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XXXVII. — TO THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Tern, June 6, 1758. 
Rev. and Dear Sir, — Before I took my leave of you, the 
Sunday I set out, and, indeed, almost all the time I was at 
the communion-table, (though I was blessed there in a good 
measure in my soul,) I felt some degrees of condemnation, 
as if by setting out on that day I profaned the Sabbath and 
the Lord's Supper ; whereupon those words came strongly 
to my mind, " Therefore many among you are sick and 
weak, and some are dead." I immediately found myself 
out of order, and had much ado to reach home after the 
service was over. Till the horses were at the door, I thought 
I should not be able to go, but found myself then a little 
strengthened. The next day I was much worse ; and they 
were obliged to make room for me in the coach. The day 
after, I was still worse; and really thought it would be 
my last. About noon, while the family was at dinner, I 
collected what little strength I had left, and falling pros- 
trate before the Lord, I besought him not to cut me off 
among heathens, but grant me the favour of comforting 
and being comforted by some Christian at my death. This 
request, though contrary to true resignation, I think reached 
the ear of the Lord. He rebuked the rage of the fever, 
and sensibly filled my soul with all peace in believing ; so 
that I saw that I was yet for the land of the living. Nay, 
a few hours after, I found myself as well as ever ; and so 
I continue now by God's grace. 

Now what have I to do but to make a good use of the 
health and leisure I have in this retreat ? I see my duty, 
and I form resolutions ; but, alas ! I carry with me a 
wicked heart, which enters not into these projects ; and 
Satan, as the servants of God have experienced in all ages, 
is never more assiduous and eager to injure us than in re- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 139 

tirement. O, if I could but be so entirely penetrated with 
the knowledge of my weakness, that I dared not lose sight 
of my Saviour for a moment, without being troubled and 
overcome with fear, I should go on with security in this 
solitude; but sometimes indolence, sometimes discourage- 
ment, and sometimes security, raise clouds, which the Sun 
of righteousness has scarcely dispersed in order to enlighten 
my soul. I feel, however, by the grace of God, determined 
to sustain all the attacks of the flesh and of the devil, and 
to seize the kingdom of heaven by force. The Lord has 
been particularly gracious to me, in putting it into my heart 
to pray for the brethren by his Holy Spirit. I have ex- 
perienced more power and more pleasure in this duty of 
intercession than I have ever done. You will rightly judge 
that you are not forgotten in these poor prayers ; and I 
hope that you also sometimes remember the poor broken 
reed, who is alone in the midst of the desert, exposed to 
the fury of all the winds. I wrote to Mr. Perronet, in 
answer to a letter which I had received from him, in which 
he inquires concerning the success of the attempt which I 
made with you, for which you allowed him to labour under 
you in the vineyard of our Lord. I spoke to him frankly, 
and as you desired. I hope you have overcome the scruple 
which prevented you from giving Mr. Maxfield full liberty 
to labour for the Lord among us. The interest of the 
brethren, and no other motive, makes me desire it, I see 
no other day for me to preach here. Blessed be the Lord, 
he ordains that I at length should have more leisure to hear 
that which he has to teach his servant. I shall not see you 
at Bristol ; the journey of my pupils not taking place at 
the time expected. May the Lord be with you more and 
more in your labours and in your devotions ! Farewell. 

J. F. 



140 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XXXVIII. — T O THE SAME. 

London, Dec. 12, 1758. 
My Dear Sir, — If my silence were owing to forgetfulness, 
I should blush at not availing myself more frequently of 
your permission to write ; but the idea I entertain, that no- 
thing but your great condescension can make my corre- 
spondence supportable, makes me sometimes act in a manner 
quite contrary to the sentiments of my heart. 

Before I left Tern, the Lord gave me a medicine to pre- 
pare me to suffer what awaited me here. 

This humiliation prepared me so well, that I was not 
surprised to learn that a person in London had spread abroad 
many false and scandalous things of me during my absence, 
and that the minds of many were prejudiced against me. 
In one sense, I took a pleasure in thinking I was going to 
be rejected by the children of God, and that my Saviour 
would become more dear, under the idea, that as in heaven, 
so now on earth, I should have none but him. The first 
time I appeared in the chapel, many were so offended, that 
it was with difficulty they could forbear interrupting me in 
my prayer, to tell me, " Physician, heal thyself." I was on 
the point of declining to officiate, fearing I should only give 
fresh offence ; indeed, I should have done so, had it not been 
for my friend Bernon, who pressed me to stand firm, re- 
presenting the triumph my silence would give my enemies, 
&c. His reasons appeared to me so cogent, that, as your 
brother did not reject my assistance, I read prayers, and 
engaged to preach sometimes in a morning, which I have 
accordingly continued to do. 

The same day I arrived in London, our poor friend Ber- 
non took to his bed, as if the Lord had waited my presence 
to give the blow. Three days after, the fever increased, 
and appeared to be dangerous. The next day, which was 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 141 

Wednesday, lie settled his temporal concerns. Friday- 
evening he was free from fever, and I had some hopes of 
his life ; but on Saturday it appeared that the fever was 
the slightest part of his malady, and the physician said he 
would die of an inflammation in his bowels ; which was the 
case on Monday, after an illness of eight days. I sat up 
with him three nights, and saw him as often as I could by 
day ; and, blessed b>e God, I did not see him for a moment 
without the full assurance of faith. His soul was, in 
general, divided between the exercise of repentance, and of 
faith in the blood of the Lamb : however, from time to 
time, repentance gave place to rejoicing ; and when he ap- 
peared better, he expressed much fear of returning to life. 
Nevertheless, one day, when I was not with him, he had 
a conflict with the enemy of his faith, which continued an 
hour or two, when he came off conqueror. The violence 
of the fever sometimes threw him into a delirium, and that 
was the case some hours before his dissolution. The last 
words he uttered, before the strength of his disease deprived 
him of speech, were, " what love ! what love !" I have 
in my heart a clear testimony that he died the death of the 
just. Thus, to recompense me for the injury Satan has 
done me by a false friend, the Lord has taken to himself a 
true one, whom he will restore to me again in the last great 
day. Such a loss is a real gain. 

I sincerely rejoice in the health of Mrs. Wesley. Present 
my compliments to her — not those of the children of this 
world, but those of the servants of Christ ; and do not 
forget to give your little Charles a kiss of peace and prayer 
for me. Adieu. 

J. F. 



142 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XXXIX.— TO THE SAME. 

London, March 22, 1759. 
My Dear Sir, — You left me without permitting me to say 
farewell ; but that shall not hinder me from wishing you a 
good journey; and I natter myself that you are in the 
habit of returning my prayers. I have even shared the 
joy of Mrs. Wesley in seeing you again. Happier than the 
afflicted Jesus, you leave your own, and they regret your 
absence ; you return to your own, and they receive you 
with joy. You cannot yet be rendered perfect by suffer- 
ing — your father and mother have never forsaken you ; but 
no matter — you have, no doubt, your afflictions, and pro- 
bably the Lord throws you secretly in a crucible, that you 
may come forth as gold seven times tried in the fire. May 
he lay his hand upon you, and fill you with his strength ! 
He will not forget Mrs. Wesley : I have had some assu- 
rances that he will not, when I have been enabled to lay at 
the feet of Jesus the delightful burden you put upon me, 
by interesting me in her present critical circumstances. If 
I were more humble, I would beg you to present her my 
humble respects ; and if I were strong in faith like Eliza- 
beth, I could say, like her, with that fulness of spirit which 
should go to her heart, " Blessed art thou among women, 
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb !" But it becomes not 
me to presume so far : I shall be happy if my good wishes 
may be found sincere before God. 

Since your departure I have lived more than ever like a 
hermit. It seems to me that I am an unprofitable weight 
upon the earth. I want to hide myself from all. I tremble 
when the Lord favours me with a sight of myself : I trem- 
ble to think of preaching only to dishonour God. To-morrow 
I preach at West-street, with all the feelings of Jonah. 
would to God I might be attended with success ! If the 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



143 



Lord shall, in any degree, sustain my weakness, I shall con- 
sider myself as indebted to your prayers. The adversary 

avails himself mightily of the enthusiasm of Miss A d 

to prevent the success of my preaching in French ; but I 
believe that my own unworthiness does more for the devil 

than ten Miss A ds. However, I have thought it my 

duty to endeavour to stem the torrent of discouragement, 
praying the Lord to provide for this poor people a pastor 
after his own heart, whom the wandering sheep may be 
willing to hear, and who may bring them to himself. 

A proposal has lately been made to me, to accompany 
Mr. Nathanael Gilbert to the West Indies. I have weighed 
the matter : but, on one hand, I feel that I have neither 
zeal, nor grace, nor talents, to expose myself to the temp- 
tations and labours of a mission to the West Indies ; and, on 
the other, I believe that if God call me thither, the time is 
not yet come. I wish to be certain that I am converted 
myself, before I leave my converted brethren to convert 
heathens. Pray let me know what you think of this busi- 
ness. If you condemn me to put the sea between us, the 
command would be a hard one ; but I might possibly pre- 
vail on myself to give you that proof of the deference I pay 
to your judicious advice. 

Give me some account of Mrs. Wesley, and of the god- 
father she designs for your little Charles; and, that she 
may not labour under a deception, tell her how greatly I 
want wisdom ; and add, that I have no more grace than 
wisdom. If, after all, she will not reject so unworthy a 
sponsor, remember that I have taken you for a father and 
adviser, and that the charge will, in the end, devolve upon 
you. Adieu. May the plenitude of Christ fill you, and 
may some drops of that precious oil run from you to me ! 

J. F. 

P. S. I have taken possession of my little hired cham- 
ber. There I have outward peace ? and I wait for that 



144 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



which is within. I was this morning with Lady Hunting- 
don, who salutes you, and unites with rne to say, that we 
have need of you to make one in our threefold cord, and to 
beg you will hasten your return, when Providence permits. 
Our conversation was deep, and full of the energy of faith 
on the part of the countess : as to me, I sat like Saul at 
the feet of Gamaliel. 

XL.— TO THE SAME. 

London, April, — 1759. 
My Dear Sir, — With a heart bowed down with grief, 
and eyes bathed with* tears, occasioned by our late heavy 
loss, I mean the death of Mr. Walsh, I take my pen to 
pray you to intercede for me. What ! that sincere, labo- 
rious, and zealous servant of God ! Was he saved only as 
by fire, and was not his prayer heard till the twelfth hour 
was just expiring ? where shall I appear ; I, who am 
an unprofitable servant ? Would to God my eyes were 
fountains of water to weep for my sins ! Would to God I 
might pass the rest of my days in crying, "Lord, have 
mercy upon me !" All is vanity — grace, talents, labours, if 
we compare them with the mighty stride we have to take 
from time into eternity. Lord, remember me, now that 
thou art in thy kingdom ! 

I have preached and administered the sacrament at 
West-street sometimes in the holidays. May God water 
the poor seed that I have sown, and give it fruitfulness, 
though it be only in one soul. 

I have lately seen so much weakness in my heart, both 
as a minister and a Christian, that I know not which is 
most to be pitied, the man, the believer, or the preacher. 
Could I, at last, be truly humbled, and continue so always, 
I should esteem myself happy in making this discovery. 
I preach merely to keep the chapel open, until God shall 
send a workman after his own heart. JVos numeri su- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



145 



mus :* this is almost all I can say of myself. If I did not 
know myself a little better than I did formerly, I should tell 
you, that I had ceased altogether from placing any confi- 
dence in my repentances, &c, <fec. ; but I see my heart is 
so full of deceit, that I cannot depend on my knowledge of 
myself. 

You are not well. — Are you, then, going to leave us, 
like poor Walsh ? Ah, stay ! and permit me to go first, 
that when my soul shall leave the body, you may com- 
mend it to the mercy of my Saviour. 

The day Mr. Walsh died, the Lord gave our brethren 
the spirit of supplication for him, and many unutterable 
groans were offered up for him at Spitalfields, where I was. 
Who shall render us the same kind offices ? Is not our 
hour near ? 0, my God, when thou comest, prepare us, 
and we shall be ready ! You owe your children an elegy 
upon his death, and you cannot employ your poetic talents 
on a better subject. 

Give me some account of yourself, of my god- daughter, 
and of Charles. Present my respects to Mrs. Wesley, 
whom the Lord will strengthen in body and soul, if my 
prayers ascend to his throne ; and believe me your poor 
brother and servant, 

Soliciting your prayers, 

J. F. 

XLI.—TO THE SAME. 

London, June I, 1759. 
My Dear Brother, or rather, my Dear Father, — Suffer 
me to complain that you forget us. I wish my letter may 
miss you, and that you may come in person and answer it 
before it reaches you. I know what detains you : I ap- 
prove your prudence, but rejoice not at it. How is your 
health, and that of Mrs. Wesley, and your little family ? 
* I fill up an empty space, 



146 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



The Lord gives me health of body ; and, from time to time, 
I feel strength in my soul. when shall the witness who 
is dead arise ! When shall the Spirit enter into him, and 
fill him with wisdom, with power, and with love ! Pray for 
me, and support my weakness as much as you can. I am 
here, umbra pro corpore* I preach as your substitute ; 
come and fill worthily an office of which I am unworthy. 
My pupils return to Cambridge on Monday, and the whole 
family sets out for Shropshire on the 11th. Shall I not 
see you before that time ? I have rejected the offer of Dr. 
Taylor, and have no other temptations than those of a bad 
heart. "That is enough," you will say. I grant it ; but 
we must fight before we conquer. Pray that my courage 
may not fail. Come, and the Lord come with you. 

I am, &c. J. F. 

XLIL— TO THE SAME. 

Tern, July 19, 1759. 
My Dear Sir, — Instead of apologizing for my silence, I 
will tell you that I have twenty times endeavoured to break 
it, but without effect. I will simply relate the cause of 
my silence, referring you to the remembrance of your own 
temptations for that patience you must exercise to a weak, 
tempted soul. 

This is the fourth summer that I have been brought 
hither, in a peculiar manner, to be tempted of the devil 
in a wilderness ; and I have improved so little by my 
past exercises, that I have not defended myself better 
than in the first year. Being arrived here, I began to 
spend my time as I had determined, one part in prayer, 
and the other in meditation on the Holy Scriptures. The 
Lord blessed my devotions, and I advanced from conquer- 
ing to conquer, leading every thought captive to the 
* A shadow rather than a substance. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



147 



obedience of Jesus Christ, when it pleased God to show me 
some of the folds of my heart. As I looked for nothing 
less than such a discovery, I was extremely surprised, so 
much so as to forget Christ. You may judge already 
what was the consequence. A spiritual languor seized on 
all the powers of my soul ; and I suffered myself to be car- 
ried away quietly by a current, with the rapidity of which I 
was unacquainted. 

Neither doubt nor despair troubled me for a moment : 
my temptation took another course. It appeared to me, 
that God would be much more glorified by my damnation 
than my salvation. It seemed altogether incompatible 
with the holiness, the justice, and the veracity of the 
Supreme Being, to admit so stubborn an offender into his 
presence. I could do nothing but be astonished at the 
patience of God ; and I would willingly have sung those 
verses of Desbaraux, if I had had strength : — 

" Tonne, frappe. il est temps, rend-moi guerre pour guerre; 
J'adore en perissant la raison qui t'aigrit." 

Do not imagine, however, that I was in a state of evan- 
gelical repentance : no : a man who repents desires to be 
saved, but I desired it not : I was even impatient to go to 
my own place, and secretly wished that God would for a 
moment give me the exercise of his iron sceptre, to break 
myself to pieces as a vessel to dishonour. A bitter and 
cruel zeal against myself and all the sinners who were with 
me filled all my thoughts and all my desires. The devil, 
who well knew how to improve the opportunity, blew 
without ceasing the sparks of some corruptions which I 
thought extinguished, or at the point of being so, till at 
last the fire began to appear without. Tins opened ,my 
eyes, and I felt it was time to implore succour. It is now 
eight days since I endeavoured to pray, but almost without 
success : yesterday, however, as I sang one of your hymns, 



148 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR. LETTERS. 



the Lord lifted up my head, and commanded me to face my 
enemies. By his grace I am already conqueror; and I 
doubt not that I shall soon be more than conqueror. 
Although I deserve it not, nevertheless, hold up my hands 
till all these Amalekites be put to flight. 

I am, (fee, J. F. 

XLIII. — TO THE SAME. 

London, Sept. 14, 1759. 
My Dear Sir, — I thank you for your speedy answer ; and 
nothing but the assurance of your speedy arrival is want- 
ing to make my happiness complete. Your last lines drew 
tears from my eyes : I cannot wait till your death to be- 
seech you to give me that benediction of which you speak. 
I conjure you, in the name of Christ, to give it me when 
you read these lines, and to repeat it as frequently as you 
think of a poor brother who needs the prayers of every one, 
and who cannot part with yours. 

I accept with pleasure the obliging proposal which you 
make me for the approaching winter ; and I entreat you to 
consider it less as a proposal, than as an engagement into 
which you have entered, and of which I have a right to 
solicit the fulfilment. Permit me only to add to it one 
condition, which is, to make our reading, &c, tend as much 
as possible to that poverty of spirit which I so greatly 
need. 

A few days ago the Lord gave me two or three lessons 
on that subject ; but, alas ! how have I forgotten them ! I 
saw, I felt, that I was entirely void of wisdom and virtue. 
I was ashamed of myself, and I could say, with a degree 
of feeling which I cannot describe, Nil ago, nil habeo, 
sum nil ; in pulvere serpo* I could then say, what 
Gregory Lopez was enabled to say at all times, " There 

* " I do nothing, have nothing, am nothing : I crawl in the dnst." 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 149 



is no man of whom I have not a better opinion than of 
myself." I could have placed myself under the feet of 
the most atrocious sinner, and have acknowledged him 
for a saint, in comparison of myself. If ever I am hum- 
ble and patient, if ever I enjoy solid peace of mind, it 
must be " in this very spirit." Ah ! why do I not actually 
find these virtues? Because I am filled with self-suffi- 
ciency, and am possessed by that self-esteem which blinds 
me, and hinders me from doing justice to my own demerits. 
pray that the Spirit of Jesus may remove these scales 
from my eyes for ever, and compel me to retire into my 
own nothingness. 

To what a monstrous idea had you well-nigh given 
birth ! What ! the labours of my ministry under you 
deserve a salary ! I, who have done nothing but dishonour 
God hitherto, and am not in a condition to do anything 
else for the future ! If, then, I am permitted to stand in 
the courts of the Lord's house, is it not for me to make 
an acknowledgment rather than to receive one ? If I ever 
receive anything of the Methodist Church, it shall be only 
as an indigent mendicant receives an alms, without which 
he would perish. Such were some of the thoughts which 
passed through my mind with regard to the proposal you 
made to me in London; and I doubt whether my own 
vanity or your goodness will be able to efface the impres- 
sions they have left. 

I have great need of your advice relative to the letters 
which I receive one after another from my relations, who 
unite in their invitations to me to return to my own country : 
one says, to settle my affairs there ; another, to preach 
there ; a third, to assist him to die, &c. They press me to 
declare whether I renounce my family, and the demands I 
have upon it ; and my mother desires that I will at least 
go and see her ; and commands me to do so in the strongest 
terms. What answer shall I make ? If she thought as you 



150 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



do, I should write to her, " JTbi Christiani, ibi patria 
my mother, my brethren, my sisters are those who do the 
will of my heavenly Father. But she is not in a state of 
mind to digest such an answer : a mother is a mother long. 
On the other hand, I have no inclination to yield to their 
desires, which appear to me merely natural ; for I shall lose 
precious time, and incur expense. My presence is not ab- 
solutely necessary to my concerns ; and it is more probable 
that my relations will pervert me to vanity and interest than 
that I shall convert them to genuine Christianity. Lastly, I 
shall have no opportunity to exercise my ministry. Our Swiss 
ministers, who preach only once a week, will not look upon 
me with a more favourable eye than the ministers here ; 
and irregular preaching is impracticable, and would only 
cause me either to be laid in prison, or immediately banish- 
ed from the country. 

How does your family do ? Is the small-pox as far off 
as the French ? And does your wife disquiet herself, while 
all the nation resumes courage ? Salute her from me, and 
tell her that her brother, the captain, who is very well, 
trains his men as well as he can for her defence. May the 
Almighty be your defence day and night ! What he pro- 
tects, is well protected. Permit me to thank you for the 
sentence from Kempis with which you close your letter, by 
returning to you another : — " You run no risk in consider- 
ing yourself as the wickedest of men : but you are in dan- 
ger if you prefer yourself to any one." I am, <fec. 

J. F. 

XLIV. — TO THE SAME. 

Tern, Sept. 24, 1759. 
My Dear Sir, — For some days past, the hope of hearing 
from you has been balanced by the fear that you were not 
in a condition to write. This last idea prevails so much, 
* " Where there are Christians, there is my country." 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 151 



that I take my pen to entreat you to deliver me from the 
inquietude which I suffer from your silence. If the gout 
prevents you from writing, employ the hand of a friend ; if 
you are in the third heaven of contemplation and love, let 
brotherly love, for a moment, bring you down ; if you wan- 
der in the desert of temptation, let sympathy unite you to 
a miserable man, who feels himself undone. 

Since my last, I have taken some steps toward the know- 
ledge of myself. If you inquire what I have learned, I 
answer, that I am naked of everything but pride and un- 
belief. Yesterday I was seized with the desire of making 
rhymes, and I versified my thoughts on the present state 
of my soul in a hymn, the first part of which I now send 
you. If the poetry do not deserve reading, the language 
will recall to mind your French. 

How does Mrs. Wesley and your little family do ? The 
rumour here is, that the French are at Liverpool. I am 
glad they do not think of Bristol. Salute the trembling 
half of yourself from me, and tell her how much I rejoice 
that your quarters have been in safety hitherto, and that 
my hope is, they will continue so to the end of the war. 

May the care you take of your health have the success I 
wish ; and while I wait the event, may He who enabled St. 
Paul to say, "When I am weak, then am I strong," sustain 
you in all your infirmities, and fill your inward man with 
his mighty power! At the moment I was going to seal 
mine, I received your dear letter. You will see by the 
hymn, in which I have attempted to paint my heart, that 
I have at present far other things to do than to think of 
going on to perfection, even laying the foundation of the 
spiritual house ; much less, then, can I help forward those 
who seek it. I am, &c. 

J. F. 



152 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XLV. — TO THE SAME. 

Tern, Sept. 29, 1759. 
My Dear Sir, — Your silence began to make me uneasy, 
and your letter had well-nigh made me draw my pen over 
one I had written to ask the cause of it. The Lord afflicts 
you : that is enough to silence every complaint, and I will 
not open my mouth, except it be to pray the Lord to en- 
able you and yours to bring forth those fruits of righteous- 
ness which attend the trials of his children. Take care of 
yourself, for the sake of the Lord's little flock, and for me, 
who, with all the impatience of brotherly love, reckon every 
day till I can have the pleasure of embracing you. 

If I know anything of true brotherly love, (of which I 
often doubt,) it agrees perfectly well with the love of God, 
as the sounds of the different parts in music agree with 
each other. Then* union arises from their just difference ; 
and they please sometimes so much the more, as they 
appear the most opposed. The opposition of sentiments 
between divine and brotherly love, together with the sub- 
ordination of the latter, forms that delightful combat in the 
soul of a believer, that being divided between two, of the 
apostle, (Phil, i, 23,) which concludes with a sacrifice of 
resignation, of which the natural man is not capable. Your 
expression, " Spread the moral sense all o'er/' gives me an 
idea of that charity which I seek. The love of Gregory 
Lopez appears to me too stoical : I do not find in it that 
vehement desire, those tears of love, that ardour of seeing 
and possessing each other in the bowels of Jesus Christ, 
which I find so frequently in the epistles of St. Paul. If 
this sensibility be a failing, I do not wish to be exempt from 
it. What think you ? 

When I was reading Telemachus with my pupils, I was 
struck with this expression, " He blushed to have been born 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



153 



with so little feeling for men, and to appear to them so in- 
human." I easily applied the first part, and the son of 
Ulysses gave me an example of Christian repentance, which 
I wish to follow, till my heart is truly circumcised. Send 
me some remedy, or give me some advice, against this 
hardness of heart under which I groan. Apropos, con- 
cerning hardness of heart : what you say about reducing a 
mother to despair, has made me recollect what I have often 
thought, that the particular fault of the Swiss is to be with- 
out natural affection. With respect to that preference which 
my mother shows me above her other children, I see clearly 
that I am indebted for almost all the affection she expresses 
for me in her letters, to my absence from her, which hinders 
her from seeing my faults : nevertheless, I reproach myself 
severely that I cannot interest myself in her welfare as 
much as I did in that of my deceased father : and I am 
astonished at the difference. I believe the time is not yet 
come when my presence may be of sendee to her, and I 
flatter myself she will not be shocked at my refusal, which 
I have softened as much as I could. 

I fear you did not rightly understand what I wrote about 
the proposal you made me at London. So far from making 
conditions, I feel myself unworthy of receiving them. Be 
it what it may, I thank God that I trouble myself with no 
temporal things ; my only fear is that of having too much, 
rather than too little, of the things necessary for life. I am 
wear}' of abundance : I could wish to be poor with my 
Saviour ; and those whom he hath chosen to be rich in faith, 
appear to me objects of envy in the midst of their wants. 
Happy should I be, if a secret pride of heart did not dis- 
guise itself under these appearances of humility ! Happy 
should I be if that dangerous serpent did not conceal him- 
self under these sweet flowers, and feed on their juices ! 

I am, &c. J. F 

»* 



154 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XL VI.— TO MRS. RYAN, AND MISS FURLEY. 

Oct. 1, 1759. 

My Dear Sisters, — I have put off writing to you, lest the 
action of writing should divert my soul from the awful 
and delightful worship it is engaged in. But I now con- 
clude I shall be no loser, if I invite you to love Him my 
soul loveth, to dread Him my soul dreadeth, to adore Him 
my soul adoreth. Sink with me, or rather, let me sink with 
you, before the throne of grace ; and while cherubims veil 
their faces, and cry out, in tender fear and exquisite trem- 
bling, " Holy ! holy ! holy !" let us put our mouths in the 
dust, and echo back the solemn sound, " Holy ! holy ! 
holy !" Let us plunge ourselves into that ocean of purity. 
Let us try to fathom the depths of divine mercy ; and, con- 
vinced of the impossibility of such an attempt, let us lose 
ourselves in them. Let us be comprehended by God, if we 
cannot comprehend him. Let us be supremely happy in 
God. Let the intenseness of our happiness border on 
misery, because we can make him no return. Let our head 
become water, and our eyes fountains of tears, — tears of 
humble repentance, of solemn joy, of silent admiration, of 
exalted adoration, of raptured desires, of inflamed trans- 
ports, of speechless awe. My God, and my all ! your God, 
and your all ! our God, and our all ! Praise him ; and with 
our souls blended in one by divine love, let us with " one 
mouth glorify the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; — our 
Father, who is over all, through all, and in us all." 

I charge you before the Lord Jesus Christ, who giveth 
life, and more abundant life ; I entreat you, by all the act- 
ings of faith, the exertions of hope, the flames of love vou 
ever felt, sink to greater depths of self-abasing repentance, 
and rise to greater heights of Christ-exalting joy. And 
let Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly, more 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 155 

than you can ask or think, carry on and fulfil in you the 
work of faith with power ; with that power whereby he 
subdueth all things to himself. "Be steadfast in hope," 
immovable in patience and love, always abounding in the 
outward and inward labour of love, and " receive the end 
of your faith, the salvation of your souls." I am, &c, 

J. F. 

XL VII. — TO THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY. 

London, Nov. 15, 1759. 
My Dear Sir, — Your letter was not put into my hand till 
eight days after my arrival in London. I carried the en- 
closed agreeably to its address, and passed three hours with 
a modern prodigy, — an humble and pious countess. I 
went with trembling, and in obedience to your orders ; but 
I soon perceived a little of what the disciples felt when 
Christ said to them, " It is I, be not afraid." She proposed 
to me something of what you hinted to me in your garden, 
namely, to celebrate the communion sometimes at her house 
in a morning, and to preach when occasion offered : in such 
a manner, however, as not to restrain my liberty, nor to 
prevent my assisting you, or preaching to the French Refu- 
gees ; and that only till Providence should clearly point out 
the path in which I should go. Charity, politeness, and 
reason accompanied her offer ; and I confess, in spite of 
the resolution, which I had almost absolutely formed, to 
fly the houses of the great, without even the exception of 
the countess's, I found myself so greatly changed, that I 
should have accepted on the spot a proposal which I should 
have declined from any other mouth ; but my engagement 
with you withheld me ; and, thanking the countess, I told 
her when I had reflected on her obliging offer, I would do 
myself the honour of waiting upon her again. 

Nevertheless, two difficulties stand in my way. Will it 
be consistent with that poverty of spirit which I seek ? 



156 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

Can I accept an office for which I have such small talents ? 
And shall I not dishonour the cause of God by stammering 
out the mysteries of the gospel in a place where the most 
approved ministers of the Lord have preached with so much 
power and so much success ? I suspect that my own vanity 
gives more weight to this second objection than it deserves 
to have : what think you ? 

I give myself up to your judicious counsels : you take the 
unnecessary pains to assure me that they are disinterested ; 
for I cannot doubt it. I feel myself unworthy of them ; 
much more still of the appellation of " friend," with which 
you honour me. You are an indulgent father to me, and 
the name of "son" suits me better than that of "brother." 

You ask whether I can with confidence give you up to 
the mercy of God. Yes, I can ; and I feel that for you 
which I do not for myself : I am so assured of your salva- 
tion, that I ask no other place in heaven than that I may 
have at your feet. I doubt even if paradise would be a 
paradise to me, unless it were shared with you ; and the 
single idea which your question excited, that we might one 
day be separated, pierced my heart, and bathed my eyes 
with tears. They were sweet tears, which seemed to water 
and confirm my hope, or, rather, the certainty I have, that 
He who hath begun a good work in us will also finish it, 
and unite me to you in Christ by the bonds of an everlast- 
ing love ; and not only to you, but to your children and 
your wife, whom I salute in Christ. Adieu. I am, &c, 

J. F. 

XL VIII. — TO THE SAME. 

Dunstable, March 1, 1760. 
My Dear Sir, — I have had a pleasant journey as to my 
body, but an unhappy one for my soul. Everything re- 
quired that I should cry without ceasing, " Lord, be merci- 
ful to me a sinner !" but, alas ! I have not done so. The fine 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 157 



weather invites me to execute a design I had half formed, 
of making a forced march to spend next Sunday at 
Everton, Mr. Berridge's parish. There may the voice of 
the Lord be heard by a poor child of Adam, who, like him, 
is still behind the trees of stupidity and impenitence ! 

If I do not lose myself across the fields before I get 
there, and if the Lord be pleased to grant me the spirit of 
supplication, I will pray for you and your dear sister at 

P until I can again pray with you. Do not forget me, 

I beseech you, if the Lord bring me to your remembrance. 
" Cast your bread on the waters," on my behalf ; and per- 
haps you will " find it again after many days." I would 
fain be with you on those solemn occasions when a thousand 
voices are raised to heaven, to obtain those graces which I 
have not ; but God's will be done. 

Do not forget to present my respects to the countess. 
If I continue any time at Everton, I shall take the liberty 
of giving her some account of the work of God in those 
parts ; if not, I will give it her in person. Adieu. The Lord 
strengthen you in soul and body. I am, &c, 

J. F. 

XLIX.— TO THE HON. MRS. 

My Dear Friend, — To a believer Jesus is alone the desirable, 
the everlasting distinction and honour of men. All other 
advantages, though now so proudly extolled, so vehemently 
coveted, are, like the down on the thistle, blown away in 
a moment, and never secure to the possessor. Riches are 
incapable of satisfying ; friends are changeable and pre- 
carious ; the dear relations who are the delight of our heart 
are taken away at a stroke ; pain and sickness follow ease 
and health in quick succession : but, amidst all the possible 
changes of life, Christ is a rock. To see him by faith, to 
lay hold, to rely upon him, to live upon him — this is the 
refuge from the storm, the shadow from the heat. May it 



158 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



be given to you abundantly ! And in order to obtain it, 
nothing more or less is required of you than a full and 
frequent confession of your own abominable nature and 
heart; then kneeling as a true beggar at the door of 
mercy, declaring you came there expecting notice and relief, 
only because God our Saviour came to redeem incarnate 
devils, and, for the glory of his grace, to convert them into 
saints and servants of the living God, into children of God 
and heirs of glory. 

I think you take a sure method to perplex yourself, if 
you want to see your own faith, or look for one moment at 
yourself for proof of your faith ; others must see it in your 
works, but you must feel it in your heart. The glory of 
Jesus is now by faith realized to the mind, in some such 
manner as an infinitely grand and beautiful object, which 
appears in the firmament of heaven : it arrests and fixes the 
attention of the spectators on itself ; it captivates them ; 
and, by the pleasure it imparts, they are led on to view it. 
So when Jesus is our peace, strength, righteousness, food, 
salvation, and our all, we are penetrated with a conscious- 
ness of it. We should never rest short of this feeling, nor 
ever think we have it strong enough. This is to keep the 
faith ; and our chief conflict and most constant labour 
must be against our own heart, the things of the world, and 
the suggestions of our great enemy, who are all intent to 
divert us from this one object, which Mary placed herself 
before ; or to make us doubt whether in the life and death 
of Immanuel there were such unsearchable riches and 
efficacy, such a complete salvation for all his people; or 
whether we are in that number. For my own part, I am 
often tempted to suspect whether I am not speaking great 
swelling words of Christ, and yet am no more than sounding 
brass or a tinkling cymbal ; and I find the only successful 
way of answering this doubt is immediately to address to 
Jesus a prayer to this effect: "Whosoever cometh to thee, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



159 



thou wilt iii no wise cast out : Lord, have I not come to 
thee ? Am not I as a brand plucked out of the fire, de- 
pending upon thee for life ? See if there be any way of 
wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 

My eye looks to the blessed Jesus, my heart longs to be 
more in his service ; my love, that it were greater toward 
him ! I mourn deeply for my corruptions, which are many 
and great. When I look at him, and contemplate his great 
salvation, I admire, I adore, and in some measure I love ; 
but when I look at myself, my heart rises at the sight — 
black and devilish, selfish and proud, carnal and covetous, 
and most abominably unclean, I want all things which are 
good. But I have a blessed, blessed Lord, Christ Jesus, 
in whom all fulness dwells for me, and for the dear friend 
to whom I am writing : a fulness of pardon, wisdom, holi- 
ness, strength, peace, righteousness, and salvation : a ful- 
ness of love, mercy, goodness, truth. All this, and a thou- 
sand times more than all this, without any worthiness or 
merit, only for receiving. 0, blessed free grace of God ! 
0, blessed be his name for Jesus Christ ! What a gift ! 
and for whom ? For you, my dear friend, if you are with- 
out strength, if you are in your nature an enemy, all this is 
for you. What says the everlasting God ? Believe that 
he gave his Son for sinners, and as a sinner believe in Jesus. 
He came to save the lost : then, as a lost soul, believe in 
him. He came to cleanse the filthy : then, as a filthy soul, 
believe in him. And why should we not thus believe ? 
Can God lie ? Impossible. Can we have a better founda- 
tion to build on than the promise and oath of God ? 

My dear friend, I know you will not be angry at my 
preachment : I aim it all at my own heart : I stand more 
in need of it than you : and I always feel my heart refreshed 
when I am talking or thinking of Jesus. It is a feast to my 
sinful soul, when I am meditating on the glories which com- 
pose his blessed name. But, how dark and ignorant ! 



160 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



how little, how exceeding little, do I know of him ! 0, thou 
light of the world, enlighten my soul ! Teach me to know 
more of thy infinite and unsearchable riches, thou great 
God-man, that I may love thee with an increasing love, 
and serve thee with an increasing zeal, till thou bringest 
me to glory ! 

J. F. 

L.—TO THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Tern, Sept. 26, 1760. 
You answer me not, my dear sir. Have you not received 
my last, with a letter enclosed from my Lady Huntingdon ? 
But it is with an ill grace I complain, when I ought rather 
to thank you for the consolatory letter which you wrote me 
in answer to my first from Tern. It might have comforted 
me, if I would or could be comforted without J esus ; but I 
only ask strength to groan on till I can say, Totus mihi 
perplacet Ckristus* Without the experience of this motto, 
yours will never raise me above a devil, who can say as 
well as I, Totus displiceo mihi.\ 

I send you here the copy of a part of a letter which I 
have just written to Lady Huntingdon : — 

" The light I expected from our friend at Bristol is come, 
though from a different quarter. A fortnight ago, the 
minister of this parish, with whom I have had no connexion 
for these two years, sent me word (I know not why) that 
his pulpit should be at my service at any time, and seems 
now very friendly. Some days after I ventured, without 
design, a visit of civility to the vicar of a neighbouring 
parish, who fell out with me three years ago, for preaching 
faith in his church. He received me with the greatest 
kindness, and said often, he would have me take care of 
souls some way or other. Last Sunday, the vicar of 

* Christ is to me altogether lovely, 
f I am altogether hateful to myself 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



161 



Madeley, to whom I was formerly curate, coming to pay a 
visit here, expressed great regard for me, seemed to be 
quite reconciled, and assured me that he would do all that 
was in his power to serve me — of which he yesterday gave 
me a proof, by sending me a testimonial unasked. He was 
no sooner gone, than news was brought that the old clergy- 
man I mentioned to your ladyship, died suddenly the day 
before ; and that same day, before I heard it, Mr. Hill, 
meeting at the races his nephew, who is patron of Madeley, 
told him that if he would present me to Madeley, he would 
give the vicar of that parish the living vacated by the old 
clergyman's death. This was immediately agreed to ; as 
Mr. Hill himself informed me in the evening, wishing me 
joy. This new promise, the manner in which Mr. Hill 
forced me from London to be here at this time, and the 
kindness of the three ministers I mentioned, whose hearts 
seemed to be turned at this juncture to sign my testimo- 
nials for institution, are so many orders to be still, and wait 
till the door is quite open or shut. I beg, therefore, your 
ladyship would present my respects and thanks to Lady 
Margaret and Mr. Ingham, and acquaint them with the ne- 
cessity which these circumstances lay me under to follow 
the leadings of Providence." 

This answer is agreeable to the advice you have so re- 
peatedly given me, not to resist Providence, but to follow 
its leadings. I am, however, inwardly in suspense : my 
heart revolts at the idea of being here alone, opposed by 
my superiors, hated by my neighbours, and despised by all 
the world. Without piety, without talents, without resolu- 
tion — how shall I repel the assaults and surmount the 
obstacles which I foresee, if I discharge my duty at Madeley 
with fidelity? On the other hand, to reject this presenta- 
tion, to burn this certificate, and to leave in the desert the 
sheep whom the Lord has evidently brought me into the 
world to feed, appears to me nothing but obstinacy and re- 



162 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



fined self-love. I will hold a middle course between these 
extremes. I will be wholly passive in the steps I must 
take, and active in praying the Lord to deliver me from the 
evil one, and to conduct me in the way he would have me 
to go. 

If you see anything better, inform me of it speedily ; and 
at the same time remember me in all your prayers, that if 
this matter be not of the Lord, the enmity of the bishop 
of Lichfield, who must countersign my testimonials, the 
threats of the chaplain of the bishop of Hereford, who was 
a witness to my preaching at West-street, the objections 
drawn from my not being naturalized, or some other ob- 
stacle, may prevent the kind intentions of Mr. Hill. Adieu ! 

I am, &c., J. F. 

LI.— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, March 10, 1761. 
My Dear Sir, — I thank you for your elegy on Dr. M — n. 
It is pathetic and truly Christian. As I read it, I could 
not refrain my tears ; tears so much the more sweet, as 
they originated in a secret hope, that I should one day 
strip off the polluted rags of my own righteousness, and 
put on the Lord Jesus Christ, like the Christian hero of 
your poem. 

I feel more and more, that I neither abide in Christ, nor 
Christ in me ; nevertheless I do not so feel it as to seek him 
without intermission. wretched man that I am ; who 
shall deliver me from this heart of unbelief! Blessed be 
God, who has promised me this deliverance, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ ! 

My new convert has with great difficulty escaped the 
wiles of the devil ; who, by fifty visions, had set her on the 
pinnacle of the temple. Thanks be to God, she has come 
down without being cast headlong. I have had more 
trouble with her visions than with her unbelief. Two other 



PASTORAL AXD FAMILIAR LETTERS. 163 



persons profess that they have received the consolations of 
divine love : I wait for their fruits. 

A few days ago I was violently tempted to quit Madeley. 
The spirit of Jonah had so seized upon my heart, that I 
had the insolence to murmur against the Lord ; but the 
storm is now happily calmed, at least for a season. Alas ! 
what stubbornness is there in the will of man ; and with 
what strength does it combat the will of God under the mask 
of piety, when it can no longer do so. with the uncovered, 
shameless face of vice ! If a man bridleth not his tongue, 
all his outward religion is vain. May we not add to this 
observation of St. James, that if a man bridleth not his will, 
which is the language of his desires, his inward religion is 
vain also ? The Lord does not, however, leave me alto- 
gether ; and I have often a secret hope, that he will one 
day touch my heart and my lips with a live coal from the 
altar; and that then his word shall consume the stubble, 
and break to pieces the stone. 

The question which you mean to repeat at the end of 
the winter is, I hope, whether you shall be welcome at 
Madeley. My answer is, you shall be welcome even before 
winter ; for I have already lost almost all my reputation, 
and the little that remains does not deserve a competition 
with the pleasure I shall have in seeing you. Farewell. 

Yours, J. F. 

LIL— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, April 27, 1761. 
My Dear Sir, — I have just received your letter, which at 
once fills me with pleasure and covers me with shame. You 
kindly cast a veil over my faults, instead of exposing them 
as they deserve. This generous conduct will, if I am not 
incorrigible, help to cure me of what you style my " impru- 
dent simplicity/' but what I call by its proper title of 
" stupid ingratitude." But what do I say ? — nothing can 



164 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



cure me but a lively faith in that Jesus, who is made to us, 
of the Father, wisdom. that he were my wisdom ! 

When I first came to Madeley, I was greatly mortified 
and discouraged by the smallness of my congregations ; and 
I thought that if some of our friends at London had seen 
my little company, they would have triumphed in their own 
wisdom ; but now, thank God, things are altered in that 
respect ; and last Sunday I had the pleasure of seeing some 
in the church-yard who could not get into the church. I 
began a few Sundays ago to preach in the afternoon, after 
catechising the children ; but I do not preach my own ser- 
mons. Twice I read a sermon of Archbishop Usher's, and 
last Sunday one of the homilies, taking the liberty to make 
some observations on such passages as confirmed what I 
advanced in the morning ; and by this means I stopped the 
mouth of many adversaries. 

I have frequently had a desire to exhort in Madeley - 
wood and Coalbrook-dale, two villages of my parish ; but 
I have not dared to run before I saw an open door. It now, 
I think, begins to open : two small societies, of about twenty 
persons, have formed of themselves in those places, although 
the devil seems determined to overturn all. A young per- 
son, the daughter of one of my rich parishioners, has been 
thrown into despair ; so that everybody thought her insane, 
and indeed I thought so too. Judge how our adversaries 
rejoiced : and, for my part, I was tempted to forsake my 
ministry, and take to my heels : I never suffered such afflic- 
tion. Last Saturday I humbled myself before the Lord on 
her account, by fasting and prayer ; and I hope that the 
Lord has heard my prayer. She found herself well enough 
to come to church yesterday. You will do well to engage 
your colliers at Kings wood to pray for their poor brethren 
at Madeley. May those of Madeley, one day, equal them 
in faith, as they now do in that wickedness for which they 
were famous before you went among them. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



165 



Mr. Hill has written me a very obliging letter, to engage 
me to accompany the eldest of my pupils to Switzerland : 
and if I had any other country than the place where I am, 
I should perhaps have been tempted to go. At present, 
however, I have no temptation that way, and I have de- 
clined the offer as politely as I could. I am, &c. 

J. F. 

LIIL— TO THE SAME. 

Made ley, Aug. 19, 1761. 
My Dear Sir, — I have at length received your letter ; for 
which I thank you with all my heart. I fear you give 
yourself up to melancholy, on account of your ill state of 
health ; or, at least, that you do not rejoice with a joy full 
of glory, at the remembrance of that glory which Christ 
has purchased for you. I yet hope that we shall both see 
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, and that 
his providence will bring our bodies nearer to each other, 
at the same time that his grace unites our spirits in Christ 
Jesus. 

I do not know whether I mentioned to you a sermon 
preached at the Archdeacon's visitation. It was almost 
all levelled at the points which are called the "doctrines 
of Methodism;" and as the preacher is minister of a parish 
near mine, it is probable he had me in his eye. After the 
sermon, another clergyman addressed me with an air of 
triumph, and demanded what answer I could make. As 
several of my parishioners were present, besides the church- 
wardens, I thought it my duty to take the matter up ; and 
I have done so by writing a long letter to the preacher, in 
which I have touched the principal mistakes of his dis- 
course, with as much politeness and freedom as I was able ; 
but I have as yet had no answer. I could have wished for 
your advice before I sealed my letter ; but as I could not 
have it, I have been very cautious, intrenching myself be- 



166 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



hind the ramparts of Scripture, as well as those of our 
homilies and articles. 

I know not what to say to you of the state of my soul : 
I daily struggle in the slough of despond, and I endeavour 
every day to climb the hill difficulty. I need wisdom, mild- 
ness, and courage ; and no man has less of them than I. 
Jesus, my Saviour, draw me strongly to Him who giveth 
wisdom to all who ask it, and upbraideth them not ! As to 
the state of my parish, the prospect is yet discouraging. 
New scandals succeed those that wear away. But offences 
must come. Happy shall I be if the offence cometh not 
by me ! My churchwardens speak of hindering strangers 
from coming to the church, and of repelling them from the 
Lord's table ; but on these points I am determined to make 
head against them. A club of eighty workmen in a neigh- 
bouring parish, being offended at their minister, determined 
to come in procession to my church, and requested me to 
preach a sermon for them ; but I thought proper to decline 
it, and have thereby a little regained the good graces of the 
minister, at least for a time. Farewell. 

J. F. 

LIV. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Oct. 12, 1761. 
My Dear Sir, — You have always the goodness to encour- 
age me, and your encouragements are not unseasonable ; 
for discouragements follow one after another with very 
little intermission. Those which are of an inward nature 
are sufficiently known to you ; but some others are peculiar 
to myself, especially those I have had for eight days past, 
during Madeley wake. Seeing that I could not suppress 
these Bacchanals, I did all in my power to moderate their 
madness ; but my endeavours have had little or no 
effect. The impotent dike I opposed, only made the tor- 
rent swell and foam, without stopping its course. You 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 167 



cannot well imagine how much the animosity of my parish- 
ioners is heightened, and with what boldness it discovers 
itself against me, because I preached against drunkenness, 
shows, and bull-baiting. The publicans and maltmen will 
not forgive me : they think that to preach against drunken- 
ness, and to cut their purse, is the same thing. 

My church begins not to be so well filled as it has been ; 
and I account for it by the following reasons : the 
curiosity of some of my hearers is satisfied, and others 
are offended by the word ; the roads are worse ; and if it 
shall ever please the Lord to pour his Spirit upon us, the 
time is not yet come ; for instead of saying, " Let us 
go up together to the house of the Lord," they exclaim, 
"Why should we go and hear a Methodist?" I should 
lose all patience with my flock, if I had not more reason 
to be satisfied with them than with myself. My own 
barrenness furnishes me with excuses for theirs ; and I 
wait the time when God shall give seed to the sower, and 
increase to the seed sown. In waiting that time I learn 
the meaning of this prayer, " Thy will be done !" Believe 
me Your sincere though unworthy friend, 

J. F. 

LV. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, May 16, 1762. 
My Dear Sir, — I have received your letter, giving me the 
melancholy information of your daughter Sukey's death. 
What shall I say to you on the subject ? You know too 
well the dangers of that world, from which the Lord has 
recalled her, to repine at the premature felicity into w^hich she 
has entered. We are yet in the vale of tears and miseries, 
but God has wiped away all tears from her eyes : let us then 
dry our eyes as well as we can, and hasten to follow her. 
I hope that fatigue and grief will not wholly cast down 
Mrs. Wesley. Salute her from me, and tell her I would, 



168 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



with all my soul, bear a part of her burden. Why do I 
say a part ? The Lord Jesus is ready to take upon him 
the whole. Let us go to him, bowed down under the 
weight of our temporal and spiritual afflictions, and we 
shall find that rest which he has purchased for us at so 
great a price. Let us not forget to mingle our thanks- 
givings with our sighs. "The one shall be taken," saith 
the Lord, " and the other shall be left." Blessed be his 
holy name ; his mercy still triumphs over his justice ! 

Since my last our troubles have increased. A young 
man having put in force the act for suppressing swearing 
against a parish officer, he stirred up all the other half- 
gentlemen to remove him from the parish. Here I inter- 
posed ; and to do so with effect, I took the young man into 
my service. By God's grace I have been enabled to 
conduct myself in this matter so as to give them no han- 
dle against me, and, in spite of all their cabals, I have got 
the better. 

What has greatly encouraged them is the behaviour of 
a magistrate, who was at first inclined to favour me, 
but afterward turned against me with peculiar malevo- 
lence, and proceeded so far as to threaten me and all my 
flock of the Rock church* with imprisonment. Hitherto 
the Lord has stood by me, and my little difficulties are 
nothing to me ; but I fear I support them rather like a 
philosopher, than a Christian. We were to have been 
mobbed with a drum last Tuesday, at the Rock church ; 
but their captain, a papist, behaved himself so very ill 
that they were ashamed of him, and are made peaceable 
for the present. Ask of God to give me wisdom, resolu- 
tion, and love. The Lord give you a prosperous journey. 
Adieu. I am, &c. J. F. 

* The Rock church were a company of well-disposed people, who 
assembled for hearing the word and prayer, at a small house built 
upon a rork. in Madeley-wood. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



169 



LVI.— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Jv&y, 1762. 
Your letter, ray dear sir, arrived some days too late to 
prevent my taking a false step respecting the papists in 
question. Three weeks ago, I went to Ludlow, to the 
bishop's visitation, and I thought the occasion favourable 
for my purpose ; but the churchwardens, when we were 
upon the spot, refused to support me, and the court has 
paid no regard to my presentation. Thus I have gained 
some experience, though at my own cost. The sermon did 
not touch the string with which I was whipped the last 
visitation, and I afterward had the boldness to go and dine 
with the bishop. 

Many of my parishioners are strangely disconcerted at 
my bringing my gown back from Ludlow. With respect 
to the magistrate I mentioned, who, because he acted as 
judge of the circuit two years ago, believes himself as able 
a lawyer as Judge Foster, he, for the present, contents 
himself with threat enings. I met him the other day ; and 
after he had called me "Jesuit," &c, and menaced me 
with his cane, he assured me again that he would soon put 
down our assemblies. How ridiculous is this impotent 
rage ! 

I have attempted to form a society ; and, in spite of 
much opposition and many difficulties, I hope, by God's 
grace, to succeed. I preach, I exhort, I pray, &c. ; but as 
yet I seem to have cast the net on the wrong side of the 
ship. Lord Jesus, come thyself, and furnish me with a 
divine commission ! For some months past I have laboured 
under an insuperable drowsiness : I could sleep day and 
night ; and the hours which I ought to employ with Christ 
on the mountain, I spend like Peter in the garden. 

I congratulate you on your safe arrival in London, 
8 



170 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



May the Lord strengthen you in soul and body ! may he 
fill you with wisdom and patience ! Certainly, you need 
much of both, to pull up the tares without rooting up the 
wheat. I approve of your design of examining the state of 
things for yourself before you engage in the business. May 
the Lord bless the productions of your body and those of 
your mind ! may your little family and your books appear 
in the world under the most distinguished protection of the 
Most High ! Adieu. Pray for me, 

I am, ii:c, J. F. 

LVli. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Aug., 1762. 
My Dear Sir, — I have received your last, and I rejoice 
that Dr. Turner, by whose skill the Lord once brought me 
up from the grave, has undertaken your cure. May he 
have the same success with you that he had with me ; but, 
be that as it will, our comfort is to know that God will do 
all for the best, 

I have still trials of all sorts. Fust, spiritual ones. 
My heart is hard : I have not that contrition, that filial 
fear, that sweet, humble melting of heart before the Lord, 
which I consider as essential to spiritual Christianity. 

Secondly, the opposition made to my ministry increases. 
A young clergyman, who lives in Madeley-wood, where 
he has great influence, has openly declared war against 
me, by pasting on the church door a paper, in which he 
charges me with rebellion, schism, and being a disturber 
of the public peace. He puts himself at the head of the 
"gentlemen of the parish," as they term themselves ; and, 
supported by the recorder of Wenlock, he is determined 
to put in force the conventicle act against me. A few 
weeks ago, the widow who lives in the Rock church, and 
a young man who read and prayed in my absence, were 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 171 



taken up. I attended them before the justice, and the 
yong clergyman with his troop were present. They called 
me " Jesuit," &c. ; and the justice tried to frighten me by 
saying that he would put the act in force, though we should 
assemble only in my own house. I pleaded my cause as 
well as I could ; but seeing he was determined to hear no 
reason, I told him he must do as he pleased ; and that if 
the act in question concerned us, we were ready to suffer 
all its rigours. In his rage, he went the next day to Wen- 
lock, and proposed to grant a warrant to have me appre- 
hended ; but as the other justices were of opinion that the 
business did not come under their cognizance, but belonged 
to the spiritual court, he was obliged to swallow his spittle 
alone. Mr. Madan, whom I hare consulted, tells me the 
act may be enforced against the mistress of the house, the 
young man, and all who were present. The church- 
wardens talk of putting me in the spiritual court, for 
meeting in houses, &c. But, what is worst of all, three 
false witnesses offer to prove, upon oath, that I am a liar ; 
and some of my followers (as they are called) have dis- 
honoured their profession, to the great joy of our adver- 
saries. 

In the midst of these difficulties, I have reason to bless 
the Lord that my heart is not troubled. Forget me not in 
your prayers. Yours, J. F. 

LVIII. — TO MR. VAUGHAN. 

Madeley, Sept 4, 1762. 
Dear Sir, — I am very glad to hear your delight is 
still in the ways of the Lord ; and I trust you will never 
stop till you find them all pleasantness to you. Fight the 
good fight of faith, break through all temptations, dejections, 
wandering, worldly thoughts; through all unprofitable 
companions, and the backwardness of an unbelieving heart 



172 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



and carnal mind : struggle, I say, until you touch Jesus, 
and feel healing, comforting virtue, proceeding from him : 
and when you know clearly the way, repeat the touch, till 
you find he lives in you by the powerful operation of his 
loving Spirit. Then you will say with St. Paul, * I live 
the life of God ; yet not I, but Christ who liveth in me." 

I rejoice that you inquire where Christ maketh his flock 
to rest at noon. The rest from the guilt and power of sin 
you will find only in inward holiness : and this I apprehend 
to consist in what St. Paul calls " the kingdom of God : — 
righteousness," which excludes all guilt ; " peace," which 
banishes all fear that hath torment ; " and joy," which can 
no more subsist with doubts, anxiety, and unstableness of 
mind, than light can subsist with darkness. That there is 
a state wherein this kingdom is set up, firmly set up in the 
heart, you may see from our Lord's sermon on the mount, 
by his priestly prayer in St. John, by the epistle of that 
apostle, and various parts of the epistles of St. Paul and 
St. James. 

To aim aright at this liberty of the children of God re- 
quires a continual acting of faith ; of a naked faith in a 
naked promise ; such as, " The Son of God was manifested 
to destroy the works of the devil. The law of the Spirit 
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of 
sin and death. I can do all things through Christ, who 
strengtheneth me." By a naked faith in a naked promise 
I do not mean a bare assent that God is faithful, and that 
such a promise in the book of God may be fulfilled in me ; 
but a bold, hearty, steady venturing of my soul, body, 
and spirit, upon the truth of the promise, with an appropri- 
ating act. It is mine, because I am a sinner ; and I am 
determined to believe, come what will. Here you must 
shut the eye of carnal reason, and stop the ear of the mind 
to the reasonings of the serpent ; which, were you to reason 
with him, would be endless, and would soon draw you out 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 178 



of the simple way of that faith by which we are both 
justified and sanctified. 

You must also remember that it is your privilege to go 
to Christ, by such a faith now, and every succeeding 
moment : and that you are to bring nothing but a careless, 
distracted, tossed, hardened heart, just such a one as you 
have now. Here lies the grand mistake of many poor, 
miserable, but precious souls : they are afraid to believe, 
lest it should be presumption, because they have not as yet 
comfort, joy, love, &c. ; not considering that this is to look 
for fruit before the tree is planted. Beware, then, of 
looking for any grace previous to your believing ; and let 
this be uppermost in your mind. 

The Lord make you wise as a serpent, and harmless as 
the loving dove ; but beware of the serpent's food, — dust 
and the dove's bane, — bird-lime, — worldly cares. O my 
friend, what is the world ? A flying shadow. As we fly 
through it, let us lose ourselves in the eternal substance. 
Farewell in the Lord. Yours, 

J. F. 

LIX.— TO THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Madeley, Sept. 20, 1762. 
My Dear Sir, — It is well for me I have not an implicit 
faith in your half-promises of coming to see me. I am 
sorry that my delay has furnished you with an apology ; but 
comfort myself still with the idea that you will not wholly 
deprive me of the pleasure of embracing you, and that 
your visit is only postponed for a little season. 

The " Crede quod habes et habes"* is not very different 
from those words of Christ, " What things soever ye desire, 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall 
have them." Mark xi, 24. The humble reason of the 
believer, and the irrational presumption of the enthusiast, 
* Believe that you have it, and you have it. 



174 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



draw this doctrine to the right hand or to the left. But 
to split the hair, here lies the difficulty. I have told you 
that I am no party-man ; I am neither for nor against the 
witness for Christian perfection without examination. I 
complain of those who deceive themselves ; I honour 
those who do honour to their profession ; and I wish we 
could find out the right way of reconciling the most pro- 
found humility with the most lively hopes of grace. I 
think you insist on the one, and Maxfield on the other ; 
and I believe you both sincere in your views. God bless 
you both ; and if either of you goes too far, may the Lord 
bring you back ! 

Truly, you are a pleasant casuist. What! "It hath 
pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, 
to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and 
to incorporate him into thy holy church/ ' Does all this 
signify nothing more than '' being taken into the visible 
church?" 

How came you to think of my going to leave Madeley ? 
I have indeed had my scruples about the above passage, 
and some in the burial-service ; but you may dismiss your 
fears, and be assured I will neither marry, nor leave my 
church, without advising with you. Adieu. 

Your affectionate brother, J. F. 

LX.—TO MISS HATTON. 

Madeley, Nov. 1, 1762. 
Madam, — I thank you for the confidence you repose in the 
advice of a poor fellow-sinner : may the Father of lights 
direct you through so vile an instrument ! If you build 
all your hopes of heaven upon Jesus Christ, in all his 
offices, you do not build without a foundation, but upon the 
true one. 

That there is a seal of pardon and an earnest of our in- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 175 



heritance above, which you are as yet a stranger to, seems 
clear from the tenor of your letter ; but had I been in the 
place of the gentleman you mention, I would have endea- 
voured to lay it before you "as the fruit of faith," and a 
most glorious privilege, rather than "as the root of faith," 
and a thing absolutely necessary to the being of it. 

I believe many people know when they receive faith, and 
all people when they receive the seal of then- pardon. 
When they "believe in Christ," they are justified in the 
sight of God ; and when they " are sealed by the Spirit," 
they are fully assured of that justification in their own con- 
science. Some receive faith and the seal of their pardon in 
the same instant, as the jailer, &c. ; but most receive faith 
first, as the dying thief, the woman of Canaan, David, the 
people of Samaria, (Acts viii, 12-16,) and the faithful at 
Ephesus, (Eph. i, 13.) Suppose, then, God gave you faith, 
that is, a hearty trust in the blood of Christ, and a sincere 
closing with him as your righteousness and your all, while 
you received the sacrament, (which seems to me very proba- 
ble by the account you give me,) your way is exceeding plain 
before you. Hold fast your confidence, but do not trust nor 
rest in it : trust in Christ, and remember he says, " I am 
the way ;" not for you to stop, but to run on in him. Re- 
joice to hear that there is a full assurance of faith to be 
obtained by the seal of God's Spirit ; and go on, from faith 
to faith, until you are possessed of it. But remember this, 
and let this double advice prevent your straying to the 
right or left : First. That you will have reason to suspect 
the sincerity of your zeal, if you lie down easy without the 
seal of your pardon and the full assurance of your faith. 
Secondly. While you wait for that seal in all the means of 
grace, beware of being unthankful for the least degree of 
faith and confidence in Jesus ; beware of burying one talent, 
because you have not five : beware of despising the grain 
of mustard-seed, because it is not yet a tree, 



176 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



May the Lord teach you the middle path, between rest- 
ing short of the happiness of "making your calling and 
election sure/' and supposing you are neither called nor 
chosen, and that God hath not yet truly begun the good 
work. You can never be too bold in believing, provided 
you aspire still after new degrees of faith, and do not use 
your faith "as a cloak for sin." The Lord despises not the 
day of small things ; only beware of resting in small things, 
and look for the seal and abiding witness of God's Spirit, 
according to the following direction : — 

a Restless, resign'd, for this I wait, 
For this my vehement soul stands still." 

As to deep sights of the evil of sin, the more you go on, 
the more you will see Christ exceeding lovely, and sin ex- 
ceeding sinful : therefore, look up to Jesus, as a vile and 
helpless sinner, pleading his promises : this is going on ; 
and trust him for the rest. 

With respect to myself : in many conflicts and troubles 
of soul, I have consulted many masters of the spiritual life ; 
but divine mercy did not, does not, suffer me to rest upon 
the word of a fellow- creature. The best advices have often 
increased my perplexities ; and the end was, to make me 
cease from human dependence, and wait upon God from 
the dust of self-despair. To him, therefore, I desire to 
point you and myself, in the person of Jesus Christ. This 
incarnate God receives weary, perplexed sinners still, and 
gives them solid rest. He teaches, as no man ever taught ; 
his words have spirit and life ; nor can he possibly mistake 
our case. I am, madam, your fellow- servant in the patience 
and kingdom of Jesus, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



177 



LXL— TO THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Madeley, Nov. 22, 1762. 
My Dear Sir, — The debates about the illegality of exhort- 
ing in houses, although only in my own parish, grew some 
time ago to such a height, that I was obliged to lay my 
reasons before the bishop ; but his lordship very prudently 
sends me no answer. I think he knows not how to dis- 
approve, and yet dares not approve, this Methodistical way 
of procedure. 

Brother Ley arrived safe here yesterday, and confirms 
the melancholy news of many of our brethren overshooting 
sober and steady Christianity in London. I feel a great 
deal for you and the church, in these critical circumstances. 
that I could stand in the gap ! O that I could, by sac- 
rificing myself, shut this immense abyss of enthusiasm, 
which opens its mouth among us ! 

The corruption of the best things is always the worst of 
corruptions. Going into an extreme of this nature, or only 
winking at it, will give an eternal sanction to the vile as- 
persions cast on all sides on the purest doctrines of Chris- 
tianity ; and we shall sadly overthrow — overthrow in the 
worst manner — what we have endeavoured to build for 
many years. 

The nearer the parts that mortify are to the heart, the 
more speedily is an amputation to be resolved upon. You 
will say, perhaps, " But what if the heart itself is attack- 
ed ?" Then let the heart be plucked out, as well as the 
right eye. Was not Abraham's heart bound up in the life 
of Isaac ? Yet he believed, that if he offered him up, God 
was able to restore him, even from the dead ; and was not 
God better to him than his hopes ? 

I have a particular regard for M and B . Both 

of them are my correspondents. I am strongly prejudiced 

8* 



178 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



in favour of the witnesses, and do not willingly receive what 
is said against them ; but allowing that what is reported is 
one-half mere exaggeration, the tenth part of the rest shows 
that spiritual pride, presumption, arrogance, stubbornness, 
party spirit, uncharitableness, prophetic mistakes, in short, 
that every sinew of enthusiasm is now at work in many of 
that body. I do not credit any one's bare word, but I 
ground my sentiments on B 's own letters. 

May I presume, unasked, to lay before you my mite of 
observation. If I had it in my power to overlook the 
matter, as you have, would it be wrong in me calmly to 
sit down with some unprejudiced friends and lovers of 
both parties, and fix with them the marks and symptoms 
of enthusiasm ; then insist, at first in love, and afterward, 
if necessary, with all the weight of my authority, upon 
those who have them, or plead for them, either to stand to 
the sober rule of Christianity, or openly to depart from us. 

Fear not, dear sir, the Lord will take care of the ark ; 
and though hundreds of Uzzahs should fall off, most of 
them would return with Noah's dove. Have faith in the 
word, and leave the rest to Providence. " The Lord will 
provide," is a comfortable motto for a believer. 

I am, with most hearty prayers that God would fill you 
more than ever with wisdom, steadiness, meekness, and for- 
titude; reverend and dear sir, &c, 

J. F. 

LXIL— TO THE SAME. 

Madelet, Jan. 5, 1763. 
My Dear Sir, — I congratulate you on the strength the 
Lord gave you last year, and I beseech him to supply the 
lamp of your days with new oil, during the course of that 
upon which we are now entering. Above all, may he fill 
the vessel of your heart with the oil of gladness, and pre- 
pare you for all events which time may bring forth. May 



PASTORAL AN I) FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



179 



he enable you to carry the light of his glorious gospel into 
the hearts of thousands by your writings and sermons, 
and wisdom and grace into mine by your letters and con- 
versation. 

My soul does not experience a new life in this renovation 
of the year. may the Almighty enable me to conclude 
it in a better spirit than I have begun it ! What I want is 
the light and mighty power of the Spirit of my God. Happy 
should I be if, in the midst of all my pressing wants, I had 
the power and the will constantly to cast my burdens at 
the feet of the Lord. As to my parish, we are just where 
we were ; we look for our pentecost, but we do not pray 
sufficiently to obtain it. We are left in tolerable quiet by 
all but the sergeant, who sent a constable to make inquiry 
concerning the life of his majesty's subjects, upon informa- 
tion that the cry of "murder'' had been heard in my house 
on Christmas-day. This report originated in the cries of a 
young woman, who is of our society, and whom Satan has 
bound for some months. 

It seems to me as if that old murderer proposed to ruin 
the success of my ministry at Madeley, as he did at London, 

in the French church, by means of Miss A d. She 

emaciates her body by fastings, falls into convulsions, some- 
times in the church, and sometimes in our private assem- 
blies, and is perpetually tempted to suicide ; her constitution 
is considerably weakened, as well as her understanding. 
What to do in this case, I do not know ; for those who are 
tempted in this manner pay as little regard to reason as the 
miserable people in Bedlam. Prayer and fasting are our 
only resources. We propose to represent our case to the 
Lord on Tuesday next, and on all the following Tuesdays. 
Aid the weakness of our prayers with all the power of 
yours. Adieu. That the Lord may strengthen you and 
yours, in body and soul, is the earnest prayer of 

Yours, &c. J. F. 



180 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



LXIII. — TO MISS HATTON. 

Madeley, Jan. 28, 1763. 
Dear Madam, — I share in the joy which your deliverance 
from your late trials gives to those who shared in your per- 
plexity. Heaviness may endure for a night, but gladness 
cometh in the morning ; and when it comes after a long, 
uneasy night, it is doubly welcome, and deserves a double 
tribute of praises. be not wanting in that sweet duty ! — 
I mean, praising from a sense of the divine goodness, love, 
and patience toward us. Remember that you are brought 
from darkness to light, to show forth the praises of Him 
who calleth you ; and that your feet are set at liberty for 
you to run with patience the race of prayer and praise, self- 
denial and obedience, which the Lord hath set before you. 

Would you go on comfortably and steadily for the time 
to come, beg of the Lord to give you grace to receive the 
following advice : — 1. Live above earthly and creature com- 
forts. 2. Beware of flatness and lukewarmness : this, if 
not carried immediately to the Lord, ends often in darkness 
and deadness. 3. Value divine comforts above all things, 
and prize Christ above all comforts, that if they should fail, 
you may still glory in the God of your salvation. 4. Let 
that which torments others make your happiness — I mean 
self-denial, and renouncing your own will. 5. Be ready to 
yield with joy to every conviction of the spirit of God. 
6. Be faithful to present grace, and aspire after a continual 
growth. 7. Live the present moment to God, and avoid 
perplexing yourself about your past or future experience : 
by giving up yourself to Christ as you are, and being will- 
ing to receive him now as he is, leaving all the rest to him, 
you will cut up a thousand temptations by the roots. 

I am, f. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 181 



LXIV. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, March 14, 1763. 
Dear Madam, — I am very glad you persist in taking up 
your cross, and following the Captain of our salvation. You 
must expect many a difficulty : some of your greatest trials 
may come from your dearest friends without, and your near- 
est part within. I always found it profitable to expect the 
worst ; for a temptation foreseen is half overcome. Let us 
count the cost daily, and learn to value all outward things 
as dung and dross, that we may win Christ. 

My heart is at present full of an advice which I have just 
given, with some success, to the Israelites in the wilderness 
about this place. Spend, in " feeling after Christ, by the 
prayer of such faith as you have, whether it be dark or 
luminous, the time you have hitherto spent in desponding 
thoughts, in perplexing considerations upon the badness or 
uncertainty of your state ; and come now to the Lord Jesus 
with your present wants, daring to believe that he waits to 
be gracious to you." Christ is the way, the highway to 
the Father ; and a highway is as free for a sickly beggar 
as a glorious prince. If it is suggested, that " you are too 
presumptuous to intrude without ceremony upon Him that 
is glorious in holiness, and fearful in praises ;" answer, in 
looking up to Jesus, — 

Be it, — I myself deceive ; 
Yet I must, I must believe." 

Mr. M — d — 's reply to Mr. Wesley's answer seems to me 
just in some points, and in others too severe. Mr. Wesley 
is, perhaps, too tenacious of some expressions, and too prone 
to credit what he wishes concerning some mistaken witnesses 
of the state of fathers in Christ. Mr. M , perhaps, es- 
teems too little the inestimable privilege of being perfected 
in that love which casts out fear : but, in general, I con- 



182 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



ceive, if I do not presume of myself in answering your ques- 
tion, that it would be better for babes or young men in 
Christ to cry for a growth in grace, than to dispute whether 
fathers in Christ enjoy such or such privileges. 

I am, with sincerity, &c, 

J. F. 

LXV. — TO MR. SAMUEL HATTON. 

Madeley, April 22, 1763. 
Dear Sir, — I am glad to find by your welcome letter that 
Jesus is still precious to you. may he be so a hundred- 
fold more, both to me and you ! May we live only to show 
forth his praise, and grow up into him in all things ! 

As for me, I have reason to praise God that he gives 
me patience to throw in my weak line, till he gives me the 
word, and enables me to cast the net on the right side, and 
enclose a multitude of sinners. The hope of this bears me 
up above the toils of a night of ignorance, perplexity, and 
trials of every sort. I find, blessed be God, that all things 
work together for my good, whether it be success or want 
of success, joy or grief, sickness or ease, bad or good report : 
all encourages, all humbles me. 

With respect to the Misses Hatton, I hope they will call 
no man upon earth " master,'' and that they will steer clear 
of the rocks of prejudice and bigotry, against which so many 
professors split daily, even when they think they are at the 
greatest distance from them. 

I am quite of your opinion about the mischief that some 
professors (puffed up in their own fleshly minds) do in the 
Church of Christ under the mask of sanctity ; but my Mas- 
ter bids me bear with the tares until the harvest, lest in 
rooting them up I should promiscuously pull up the wheat 
also. As to Mr. Wesley's system of perfection, it tends 
rather to promote humility than pride, if I may credit his 
description of it in the following lines : — 



PASTORAL AXD FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



183 



" Now let me gain perfection's height ; 
Now let me into nothing fall : 
Be less than nothing in thy sight, 
And feel that Christ is all in all." 

More than this I do not desire ; and I hope that short of 
this nothing will satisfy either my dear friend or me. 

With respect to " one Mr. B n having been so bold 

as to assert in your room, that our salvation was condi- 
tional," he may be orthodox enough, in my poor judg- 
ment, although he said so. Indeed, the meritorious part 
of our salvation is unconditional on our side ; and if Mr. 

B n talks of meritorious conditions, he is a stranger to 

the gospel ; but, that the application of this salvation is 
conditional, I gather from every doctrinal chapter in the 
Bible, especially from Luke xiii, 3, and Mark xvi, 16. 

Have you drunk in the doctrine of particular redemp- 
tion, contrary to the thoughts of your esteemed friend, 
Count Zinzendorf ? But, be that as it will, let us still make 
the best of our way to the Saviour, and drop all our par- 
ticular opinions in his universal, unbounded love ; and 
whereinsoever any of us is wrong, the Lord will reveal it 
unto us. Pray for my flock ; and pray for, dear sir, 

Your sincere friend and affectionate brother in Christ, 

J. F. 

LXYI. — TO THE KEY. CHAKLES WESLEY. 

Madeley, July 26, 1763. 
My Dear Sir, — I have for two months waited impatiently 
for some news of you, but in vain. Are you alive, paraly- 
tic, gouty, slothful, or too busy to write a line to your 
friends at Madeley ? If you have not leisure to write a line, 
write a word, "I am well," or, "I am ill." God grant it 
may be the former ! 

Everything is pretty quiet here now. Many of our 
offences die away ; though, not long ago, I had trials in 



184 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



abundance : but, blessed be the Lord, he gave me his peace. 
It is not, however, without righting that I keep it. One 
of my late trials might have had consequences to make 
me quit Madeley : and, I praise God, I am ready to do so 
without looking behind me, even this day. The young- 
person I mentioned, as being sorely tempted of the devil, 
is happily delivered ; and we have had the testimonies of 
Mr. Mould, who preached here three weeks ago, and of 

Mr. R , who spent four days here, and preached last 

Sunday. He is an excellent young man, and only wants 
a little of the Methodist zeal to temper the reserve of 
Mr. W . 

When will you come to Madeley ? What do you do at 
London ? Have you repaired the breach, and healed the 
plague ? May the Lord give you all the wisdom, the pa- 
tience, the zeal, the gentleness, and the health you stand 
in need of ! Ask them for 

Your poor brother, J. F. 

LXVIL— TO MISS HAT TON. 

Madeley, Aug. 3, 1763. 
Madam, — I am heartily glad to find, by the contents of your 
letter, that your heart is more set upon obtaining the one 
thing needful, — Christ in us, with all his graces, the hope 
of glory. I beg, in my Master's name, you would cherish 
the conviction of the need of this prize of your high calling, 
and pursue it in the new and living way in which the fa- 
thers trod — that of the cross, and that of faith. We travel 
in the first, by continually denying self, in the desire of the 
flesh, the desire of the eye, and the pride of life ; and we 
advance in the second, by aiming at Christ, claiming 
Christ, embracing Christ, delighting and rejoicing in 
Christ received in the heart, through the channel of the 
gospel promises. To be able to go on in the way of the 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



185 



cross, and that of faith, you stand in need, madam, of much 
recollection, and steady watchfulness over the workings of 
your own heart, and diligent attention to the whispers of 
divine grace. That the Lord would powerfully enable us 
to run on with faith and patience till we inherit the pro- 
mises, is the prayer of, madam, 

Your servant in Christ, J. F. 



LXVHL— TO THE SAME. 

Madelet, Aug. 19, 1763. 

Madam, — Mrs. Hatton gave me this morning your serious 
letter. You wisely observe therein, the continual need pro- 
fessing Christians have to guard against religious chit-chat, 
and conclude by requesting a few lines, when I should 
have an opportunity of writing : but as there is nothing in 
your letter which requires an answer, I was thinking 
whether I could answer it without being guilty of religious 
chit-chat ; for as there is such a thing in speaking, no 
doubt in writing also. I believe I should have sacrificed 
to conscience what the world calls "good manners," had I 
not just after accidentally opened Lopez's Life upon the 
following passage, which I shall transcribe, hoping it will 
be blessed both to the reader and copier. — " He was as 
sparing of words in writing, as in speaking. He never 
wrote first to any one, nor did he answer others, but 
when necessity or charity obliged him to it, and then so 
precisely, and in so few words, that nothing could be re- 
trenched. I have several of his letters in my hands of five 
or six lines each. In answer to those he had received 
from the Viceroy of Mexico, he sent him one containing 
only these words : ' I will do what you command me/ 
And although this manner of writing might seem disre- 
spectful to persons of so high quality, yet it gave no offence 



186 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



from one who was so far from all compliments, and who 
never spoke anything superfluous." 

Now, madam, for fear of writing anything superfluous, 
I shall conclude by wishing that both you and I may fol- 
low Lopez as he followed Christ ; and subscribing myself, 
madam, 

The ready servant of you and yours in the gospel, 

J. F. 

LXIX.— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, . 

My Dear Friend in the Lord, — I thought last Sunday 
that you were not far from the kingdom of God. Had your 
wisdom stooped a little more to the foolishness of the cross, 
you would have been the little child to whom God reveals 
what he justly hides from the wise and prudent. I longed 
to follow you, and give you no rest till you had drunk 
the cup of blessing, which your Lord hath mixed for 
you with his bitter tears and most precious blood. And 
how glad was I to find last night, that you had no aversion 
to Jesus and his love, nor to the simple, foolish way of en- 
tertaining him in your heart, as you can, by mere faith. 
How often since has my heart danced for joy, in hope that 
the time is come that the Lord will fully open your heart, 
like that of Lydia, to attend, without cavilling or objecting, 
to his still small voice, " I am thine, and thou art mine ! 
Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, thou worm Jacob. I 
have graven thy name, that is, ' sinner/ upon the palms of 
my hands. I shall see in thee the travail of my soul, and 
be satisfied. Let me not upbraid thee longer for wilful 
unbelief and hardness of heart ; but believe, upon the testi- 
mony of my word and servants, that I am risen for thy 
justification. Say not, I must ascend into heaven, or de- 
scend into the deep, — I must feel first such a height of joy 
or depth of sorrow : no ; believe simply that the word is 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 187 



nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, namely, the 
word of faith preached unto thee. I am the Lamb of God ; 
I have carried away thy sins, and I do not condemn thee, 
though thou condemnest thyself. I am he that, for mine 
own sake, blotteth out thy sins as a cloud, and thy iniqui- 
ties as a thick cloud ; because ' I will have mercy on whom 
I will have mercy namely, on him who will be saved in 
my way; by that which stumbles the Jew, and is fool- 
ishness to the Greek, but which will prove to thee both 
the wisdom and power of God. Fear not, then, * thou of 
little faith ; wherefore shouldst thou doubt ' any longer ? 
Do I despise the day of small things ? Do I break the 
bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax ? Am not I the 
good Shepherd, who carrieth the lambs in his bosom ? Does 
a mother forget her sucking child, because it is weak, 
sickly, unable to walk, or even to stand ? Yea, though a 
mother should so forsake her child, yet will I never leave 
thee nor forsake thee. Only lean on thy Beloved, and I 
will bring thee up out of the wilderness. Abandon thy- 
self wholly to my care, and I, the Keeper of Israel, will 
care for thee ; and thy business shall be henceforth to re- 
pose on my bosom, and wash thee in my bleeding heart ; 
and my business shall be to carry thee safe through or 
above all thy enemies. Only remember, thy business is 
to believe and love ; and trust me for a faithful discharge 
of mine, — to save thee with a high hand." 

Thus, my friend, will your blessed Saviour speak to 
your heart, if you do not drown his voice by the objec- 
tions of your false wisdom. 0, down with it ! it is the 
fruit of the tree of death. Away to the tree of life ; take 
freely, eat and live. I know you are willing, through 
grace ; and Christ, who hath made you willing, is ten 
thousand times more willing than you : how then can he 
cast you out? What hinders but that you should, as a 
spiritual Rebekah, say, " Now and ever I will have that 



188 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



man ?" You go upon a sure bottom, you need not fear 
being slighted ; for in the letter he hath written you from 
heaven, to invite you to the marriage, he says, " I have 
betrothed thee to me with everlasting," yea, with bleed- 
ing kindness. Indeed, indeed, he sends me to you, to 
assure you he is " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever ;" 
and were you the sister of Magdalene in outward wicked- 
ness, he sends you word that you may kiss his feet, and 
rejoice that much is forgiven you, even though you should 
not have one tear to wash them with ; his blood, his pre- 
cious blood, hath washed his feet, and does wash your 
heart, and will wash it white as snow. O let it be your 
business to consider it with a believing thought: that is 
the way to apply it to your heart. 

I would have called on you this morning, had not my 
intended journey prevented it. Till I have an opportu- 
nity of calling, I beg, as upon my knees, you would 
make use of the following directions, which I think as 
truly applicable to your state, as they are truly evan- 
gelical : — 

1. It is better perishing for believing wrong, than for 
not believing at all. Venture then with Esther : " If I 
perish, I perish/' I had rather perish in trying to touch 
the sceptre of grace, than in indolently waiting till the king 
touches me with it. 

2. Christ often reveals himself "as a babe, a feeble 
infant, crying for milk in a manger." Do not you despise 
him in his lowest, weakest state; do not say to your 
Saviour, " I will not receive thee, unless thou appear in a 
blaze of glorious light." Reject not the little leaven ; and 
if your grain of faith is small as mustard-seed, be the more 
careful not to throw it away as dirt. The Holy Ghost 
says, " The light of the just shines more and more to the 
perfect day;" and how feeble is the light of the early 
morning ! how undiscernible from darkness ! 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



189 



3. Sin gives you your first title to the Friend of sin- 
ners ; and a simple naked faith the second. Do not, 
then, puzzle yourself about contrition, faithfulness, love, 
joy, power over sin, and a thousand such things, which 
the tempting devil will persuade you you must bring to 
Christ. He will receive you gladly with the greatest 
mountain of sin ; and the smallest grain of faith at Christ's 
feet will remove that mountain. 

4. At the peril of your soul, desire at present neither 
peace nor joy ; nor puzzle yourself even about love. Only 
desire that that blessed Man may be your bridegroom, and 
that vou mav firmly believe that he is so, because he hath 
given you his flesh and blood upon the cross ; and keep 
believing this, and trusting in him. 

5. You have nothing to do with sin and self, although 
they will have much to do with you. Your business is 
with Jesus, with his free, unmerited love, with his glorious 
promises, &c, cVrc. 

6. Strongly expect no good from your own heart ; 
expect nothing but unbelief, hardness, unfaithfulness, and 
backsliding : and when vou find them there, be not shaken 
nor discomposed ; rather rejoice that you are to live by 
faith on the faithful heart of Christ ; and cast not away 
your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 

7. When you are dull and heavy, as you will often be, 
remember to live on Christ, and claim him the more by 
naked faith. I have not time to say more: but Jesus, 
whom you hold by the hem of his promise, will teach you 
all the day long. Look unto him, and be saved ; and re- 
member that he forgives seventy times seven in one dav. 
May his dawning love attend you till it is noon-day in your 
soul ; and pray for him who earnestly prays for you, I 
mean for Your unworthy servant, 

J. F. 



190 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



LXX. — TO MRS. GLYTCNE. 

Madeley, Sept. 2, 1763. 
Dear Madam, — I thank you for your kind remembrance, 
and good wishes that I might eat the everlasting bread of 
our Father's house, expressed by a present of the most in- 
corruptible bread our earth affords. I should be glad to 
take the opportunity of Mr. Wesley's stay at Salop, to 
thank you in person, and eat with you the bread, the un- 
leavened bread, of sincerity and truth, handed out by him ; 
but I am obliged to set out to-day for lady Huntingdon's 
college, and shall not, I fear, be in Shropshire when Mr. 
Wesley comes. 

If the Father of lights hath drawn your soul in any 
warmer desires after the glorious sense of his love, and 
enabled you to sit down and count the cost, and give up 
fully whatever may have a tendency to keep you out of 
the delightful enjoyment of the pearl of great price, I shall 
rejoice greatly ; for it is my hearty desire that all my 
Christian friends and I might grow up daily toward the 
measure of the full stature of Christ. 

I return you my most affectionate thanks, madam, for 
your book, and for the franks you added to it. May you 
use all the promises of the gospel as franks from Jesus, to 
send momentary petitions to heaven ; and may an unwea- 
ried faith be the diligent messenger ! 

What proved a disappointment to you was none to me, 
having been forced, by many such disappointments, to look 
for comfort in nothing but these comprehensive words : 
" Thy will be done." A few more trials will convince you 
experimentally of the heavenly balm they contain to 
sweeten the pains and heal the wounds that crosses and 
afflictions may cause. We often improve more by one 
hour's resignation, than by a month's reading ; and when 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS, 



191 



we can exercise neither gifts nor graces, one of the last is 
always excepted, — patience : which is then worth all the 
rest. let us make the best of our day, madam ; a day 
of grace ; a gospel day ; a day of health ; a precious day 
of life ! Let us believe, hope, love, obey, repent, spend 
and be spent for Him who hath loved us unto death ! 

Mr. M. said your portmanteau would go to-day ; but 
whether it goes or stays, let neither wind nor tide keep us 
back from Jesus Christ. That his love may fill our hearts, 
is the repeated wish of, dear madam, 

Your unworthy friend and servant in Christ, J. F. 

LXXL — TO THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Madeley, Sept. 9, 1763. 
My Dear Sir, — I see that we ought to learn continually to 
cast our burdens on the Lord, who alone can bear them 

without fatigue and pain. If M returns, the Lord 

may correct his errors, and give him so to insist on the 
fruits of faith as to prevent antinomianism. I believe him 
sincere ; and, though obstinate and suspicious, I am persuad- 
ed that he has a true desire to know the jrill and live the 
life of God. I reply in the same words you quoted to me 
in one of your letters, ".Do not be afraid of a wreck, for 
Jesus is in the ship." After the most violent storm, the 
Lord will, perhaps, all at once, bring our ship into the de- 
sired haven. 

You ask me a very singular question with respect to 
women : I shall, however, answer it with a smile, as I 
suppose you asked it. You might have remarked that for 
some days before I set off for Madeley, I considered matri- 
mony with a different eye from what I had done ; and the 
person who then presented herself to my imagination, was 
Miss Bosanquet. Her image piirsued me for some hours the 
last day, and that so warmly, that I should perhaps have 



192 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



lost my peace, if a suspicion of the truth of Juvenal's 
proverb, " Veniunt a dote sagittce" had not made me blush, 
fight, and fly to Jesus, who delivered me, at the same mo- 
ment, from her image and the idea of marriage. Since 
that time, I have been more than ever on my guard against 
admitting the idea of matrimony ; sometimes by the con- 
sideration of the love of Jesus, which ought to be my 
whole felicity ; and at others, by the following reflec- 
tions : — 

It is true, the Scripture says that a good wife is a gift of 
the Lord ; and it is also true, that there may be one in a 
thousand : but who would put in a lottery where are nine 
hundred and ninety-nine blanks to one prize. And sup- 
pose I could discover this phoenix, this woman of a thou- 
sand, what should I gain by it? A distressing refusal. 
How could she choose such a man as I ? If, notwithstand- 
ing all my self-love, I am compelled cordially to despise 
myself, could I be so wanting in generosity, as to expect 
another to do that for me which I cannot do for myself, — 
to engage to love, to esteem, and honour me ? 

I will throw on my paper some reflections which the last 
paragraphs of your letter gave rise to, and I beg you will 
weigh them with me in the balances of the sanctuary. 

REASONS FOR AND AGAINST MATRIMONY. 

1. A tender friendship is, 1. Death will shortly end 
after the love of Christ, the all particular friendships. The 
greatest felicity of life, and happier the state of marriage, 
a happy marriage is nothing the more afflicting is widow- 
but such a friendship be- hood : besides, we may try a 
twen two persons of different friend, and reject him after 
sexes. trial ; but we cannot know a 

wife till it is too late to part 
with her. 

2. A wife might deliver 2. Marriage brings after it 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



193 



me from the difficulties of 
house-keeping, &c. 

3. Some objections and 
scandals may be avoided by 
marriage. 

4. A pious and zealous 
wife might be as useful as 
myself ; nay, she might be 
much more so among my 
female parishioners, who 
greatly want an inspectress. 

Farewell. \ 



a hundred cares and expen- 
ses ; children, a family, &c. 

3. If matrimony is not hap- 
py, it is the most fertile source 
of scandals. 

4. I have a thousand to 
one to fear that a wife, instead 
of being a help, may be indo- 
lent, and, consequently, use- 
less; orhumoursome,haughty, 
capricious, and consequently 
a heavy curse. 

ours, J. F. 



LXXII. — TO THE REV. MR. SELLON. 

Madeley, Oct. 7, 17G9. 
My Dear Brother, — I thank you for your letter and 
books ; they came safe to hand, and I shall give you the 
amount at the first opportunity. I have inquired what the 
Calvinists think of them, but I do not hear much about it. 
They choose rather to be silent ; a sign that they have not 
any great thing to object. Mr. R. looked at one here in 
my house, and objected to E/Ut/ctw ov av e/^eoj, Rom. 
ix, 15. He says s/.eoj is, "I have mercy," not, "I should 
have mercy." I observed to Mr. Glascott, " It is the sub- 
junctive mood, and may take the sign, should, would, or 
could, according to the analogy of faith." 

I long to see Cole answered. My request to you is, that 
you would answer him in the cool manner you have the 
synod ; and my prayer to God is, that you may be assisted 
for that important work. 

I know two strong Calvinist believers, who lately took 
their leave of this world with, " I shall be damned !' 
what did all their professions of perseverance do for them ? 

9 



194 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



They left them in the lurch. May we have the power of 
God in our souls, and we shall readily leave unknown de- 
crees to others ! 

The Lord give you patience with your brethren. The 
best way to confound them is, to preach that kingdom of 
God which they cast away, with real righteousness, and 
present peace and joy in believing : that is poison to the 
synodical kingdom. 

I despair of seeing you before I have seen Switzerland, 
which I design to visit next winter. Mr. Ireland takes me 
as far as Lyons in my way. 

There are some disputes in L. H. college; but when 
the power of God comes they drop them. The Calvinists 
are three to one. Your book I have sent them, as a hard 
nut for them to crack. 

May the Lord spare you, and make you a free, joyful 
soldier of the Lord Jesus ; as tough against sin and unbe- 
lief as you are against Calvin and the synod. The Lord 
hath overruled your leaving S. for good. Let us trust in 
him, and all will be well. Farewell. 

J. F. 

LXXIII. — TO ME. VAUGHAN. 

Dear Sir, — As you desire me to tell you simply what I 
think of the state of your soul, as described in your letter, 
I will do it as the Lord shall enable me. 

I praise him that he has begun a good work in you, 
which I make no doubt he will finish, if you do not coun- 
teract the operations of his grace. Your having some- 
times free access to the throne of grace, but soon falling 
back into deadness and darkness, is the common experience 
of many who walk sincerely, though slowly, toward Zion. 
It argues, on one side, the drawings of faith ; and, on the 
other, the power of unbelief. I would compare such souls 
to the child of the patriarch, who came to the birth, nay, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 195 



saw the light of this world, and yet returned again into his 
mother's womb, until, after a greater struggle, he broke 
through all that was in his way, and left the place where 
he had been so long in prison. 

If you fall short, yet be not cast down ; on the contrary, 
rejoice that God has begun, and will finish, his work in 
you; and strive more earnestly to enter in at the strait 
gate. Watch more unto prayer, and pray for that faith 
which enables the believer now to lay hold on eternal life. 
Remember, however, that your prayers will not avail much, 
unless you deny yourself, and take up every cross which 
the Lord suffers men, devils, or your own heart to lay upon 
you. In the name of Jesus, and in the power of his might, 
break through all ; and you will find daily more and more 
that Jesus is the light of the world, and that he who fol- 
lows him shall not walk in darkness. The peace of Jesus 
be with you ! Farewell. Yours, &c, 

J. F. 

LXXIV. — TO MISS HATTON. 

Madeley, March 5, 1764. 
You seem, madam, not to have a clear idea of the hap- 
piness of the love of Jesus, or at least of your privilege of 
loving him again. Your dulness in private prayer arises 
from the want of familiar friendship with Jesus. To obvi- 
ate it, go to your closet as if you were going to meet the 
dearest friend you ever had : cast yourself immediately at 
his feet, bemoan your coldness before him, extol his love to 
you, and let your heart break with a desire to love him, till 
it actually melts with his love. Be you, if not the impor- 
tunate widow, at least the importunate virgin, and get 
your Lord to avenge you of your adversary : I mean your 
cold heart. 

You ask me some directions to get a mortified spirit. 
In order to get it, get recollection. 



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PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



Recollection is a dwelling within ourselves ; a being ab- 
stracted from the creature, and turned toward God. 

Recollection is both outward and inward. Outward 
recollection consists in silence from all idle and superflu- 
ous words ; and in solitude, or a wise disentanglement from 
the world, keeping to our own business, observing and 
following the order of God for ourselves, and shutting the 
ear against all curious and unprofitable matters. Inward rec- 
ollection consists in shutting the door of the senses, in a deep 
attention to the presence of God, and in a continual care 
of entertaining holy thoughts, for fear of spiritual idleness. 

Through the power of the Spirit, let this recollection be 
steady even in the midst of hurrying business ; let it be 
calm and peaceable ; and let it be lasting. " Watch and 
pray, lest ye enter into temptation." 

To maintain this recollection, beware of engaging too 
deeply, and beyond what is necessary, in outward things ; 
beware of suffering your affections to be entangled by 
worldly desire, your imagination to amuse itself with un- 
profitable objects, and indulging yourself in the commission 
of what are called "small faults." 

For want of continuing in a recollected frame all the day, 
our times of prayer are frequently dry and useless, imagina- 
tion prevails, and the heart wanders : whereas we pass 
easily from recollection to delightful prayer. Without this 
spirit, there can be no useful self-denial, nor can we know 
ourselves : but where it dwells, it makes the soul all eye, 
all ear ; traces and discovers sin, repels its first assaults, or 
crushes it in its earliest risings. 

In recollection let your mind act according to the draw- 
ings of grace, and it will probably lead you either to con- 
template Jesus as crucified, and interceding for you, &c, 
-or to watch your senses and suppress your passions, to keep 
before God in respectful silence of heart, and to watch and 
follow the motions of grace, and feed on the promises. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 197 



But take care here, to be more taken up with the 
thoughts of God than of yourself ; and consider how 
hardly recollection is sometimes obtained, and how easily it 
is lost. Use no forced labour to raise a particular frame, 
nor tire, fret, nor grow impatient if you have no comfort ; 
but meekly acquiesce and confess yourself unworthy of it ; 
lie prostrate in humble submission before God, and patiently 
wait for the smiles of Jesus. 

May the following motives stir you up to the pursuit of 
recollection : — 1 . We must forsake all, and die to all, first 
by recollection. 2. Without it God's voice cannot be heard 
in the soul. 3. It is the altar on which we must offer up 
our Isaacs. 4. It is instrumentally a ladder (if I may be 
allowed the expression) to descend into God. 5. By it the 
soul gets to its centre, out of which it cannot rest. 6. Man's 
soul is the temple of God ; recollection the holy of holies. 
7. As the wicked by recollection find hell in their hearts, 
so faithful souls find heaven. 8. Without recollection, all 
means of grace are useless, or make but a light and transitory 
impression. 

If we would be recollected we must expect to suffer. 
Sometimes God does not speak immediately to the heart : 
we must then continue to listen with a more humble silence. 
Sometimes assaults of the heart or of the tempter may fol- 
low, together with weariness and a desire to turn the mind 
to something else : here we must be patient ; by patience 
unwearied we inherit the promises. 

Dissipated souls are severely punished. If any man abide 
not in Christ, he is cast out as a branch ; cast out of the 
light of God's countenance into the drudgery of the senses. 
He dries up, and a barrenness follows in the use of the 
means. The world and Satan gather and use him for their 
service. He is cast into the fire of the passions, of guilt, of 
temptation, and perhaps of hell. 

As dissipation always meets its punishment, so recollec- 



198 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



tion never fails of its reward. After patient waiting, comes 
communion with God, and the sweet sense of his peace 
and love. Recollection is a castle, an inviolable fortress 
against the world and the devil : it renders all times and 
places alike, and is the habitation where Christ and his 
bride dwell. 

I give you these hints, not to set Christ aside, but that 
you may, according to the light and power given to you, 
take these stones and place them upon the chief corner- 
stone, and cement them with the blood of Jesus, until the 
superstructure, in some measure, answers to the excellence 
of the foundation. I beg an interest in your prayers for 
myself, and those committed to my charge ; and am, with 
sincerity, madam, your servant, for Christ's sake, 

J. F. 

LXXV. — TO THE SAME. 

Madelet, Sept. 3, 1764. 
Madam, — I think the state your soul is in is not uncommon. 
The only advice I can at present give you is, not to look to 
self, except it be to believe it away. Be generously deter- 
mined not to live easy without the thought of Jesus on your 
mind, and his love, or, at least, endeavours after it, in your 
heart. Then get that love, or the increase of it, by obsti- 
nately, believing the love of Christ to you, till you are 
ashamed into some return of it. A passage I have found 
much relief from, when my soul hath been in the state you 
describe, is, " Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead 
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." (Rom. vi, 11.) This reckoning by faith, I find, 
is not reckoning without one's host ; but Christ is always 
ready to set his hand to the bill which faith draws. 

With respect to the hindrances your worldly business 
lays in the way of your soul, I would have you persuaded 
that they are by no means insurmountable. The following 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 199 



means, in due subordination to faith in Jesus, may, by the 
blessing of God, be of service to you : — 

1. Get up early, and save time, before you go to busi- 
ness, to put on the " whole armour of God/' by close medi- 
tation and earnest prayer. 

2. Consider the temptation that most easily besets you, 
whether it be hurry, or vanity, or lightness, or want of re- 
collection to do what you do as unto God. Ponder the 
consequences of those sins, see your weakness to resist 
them, and get at any rate a more feeling sense of your 
helplessness : when you have it, you will naturally watch 
unto prayer, and look to Christ for strength from moment 
to moment. 

3. When your mind hath been drawn aside, do not fret, 
or let yourself go down the stream of nature, as if it were 
in vain to attempt to swim against it; but confess your 
fault, and calmly resume your former endeavour, but with 
more humility and watchfulness. 

4. Steal from business now and then, though for two or 
three minutes only, and in the comer where you can be 
least observed, pour out your soul in confession, or a short 
ejaculation at the feet of Jesus, for power to watch, and 
to believe that he can keep you watching. May you feel- 
ingly believe, that he hath bought the power for you, and 
then of a truth you will find it done to you according to 
your faith. 

As to your correspondent's letter, I approve its contents, 
but would have no one depend on my judgment, especially 
on the points it treats of ; as I have been thought, sometimes, 
to consider them with a mind prepossessed in their behalf. 
This I know, that all cannot, ought not to receive some of 
the sayings that letter contains ; and yet happier far, in my 
opinion, are those that can and do receive them. Let 
every one follow grace and providence, and we shall be 
guided aright. I am, &c, J. F. 



200 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



LXXVI. — TO THE SAME. 

Madelet, Dec., 1764. 
Madam, — I am sensible how much I want advice in a thou- 
sand particulars, and how incapable I am safely to direct 
any one : I shall, nevertheless, venture to throw upon this 
sheet the following observations as they came to my mind 
on the reading your letter. 

You cannot expect on the gospel plan to attain to such 
a carriage as will please all you converse with. The Son 
of God, the original of all human perfection, was blamed 
sometimes for his silence, and sometimes for his speaking, 
&c. ; and shall the handmaid be above her Master ? 

There is no sin in wearing such things as you have by 
you, if they are not out of character : I mean, if they are 
necessary for your station, and characterize your rank. 

There is no sin in allowing yourself a little more latitude 
of speech, provided you listen to Christ by inward attention 
to his teaching, and the end of what you say may be to in- 
troduce what is useful and edifying ; for God -judgeth of 
words according to the intention of the speaker. I may 
speak idly even in the pulpit ; and I may speak to edifica- 
tion in the market, if what I say is either necessary or 
proper to introduce or drive the nail of a profitable truth. 
Some parables of our Lord would have been deemed idle 
talk, had it not been for the end he pursued, and, upon the 
whole, accomplished by them. No particular rule can be 
given here ; a thousand circumstances of persons, tempers, 
places, times, states, &c, will necessarily vary a Christian's 
plan. 

There is no sin in looking cheerful. No ; it is our duty 
to be cheerful : "Rejoice evermore." And if it is our duty 
always to be filled with joy, it is our duty to appear what 
we are in reality. I hope, however, your friends know how 
to distinguish between cheerfulness and levity. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



201 



If you want to recommend religion to those you converse 
with, and, in many instances, to pluck up offence by the 
root, let your heart lie where Mary's body did. Keep close 
to Jesus, be attentive to his still, small voice, and he will 
fill you with humble love ; and such love will teach you, 
without any rule, as by the instinct of your new nature, 
" to become all things to all men." 

You ask what the apostle meant by that expression. It 
is certain he did not mean to overset his own precept, "Be 
not conformed to the world." I apprehend that, in every 
case wherein we might promote the spiritual or temporal 
good of any one, by doing or suffering things of an indif- 
ferent nature, or even painful and disagreeable to us, we 
ought to be ready to become all things to all, provided the 
good we propose is superior to the inconveniences to which 
we submit. Here also we stand in need of humble love 
and meek wisdom, that we may so weigh circumstances as 
to form a right judgment in all things. 

I am glad the Lord strips you : I wish self may never 
clothe you again. Beware of stiff singularity in things 
barely indifferent : it is self in disguise ; and it is so much 
the more dangerous, as it comes recommended by a serious, 
self-denying, religious appearance. 

I hope the short-comings of some about you will not 
prevent your eying the prize of a glorious conformity to 
our blessed Head. It is to be feared that not a few of 
those who talk of having attained it have mistaken the way : 
they are still something ; and I apprehend that an important 
step toward that conformity is to become nothing ; or, 
rather, with St. Paul, to become in our own eyes the chief 
of sinners and the least of saints. 

Mr. Harris seems to me one among ten thousand. He 
has left a particular blessing behind him in this place. 
The God of peace give us the blessings that the Messenger 
and the Mediator of the New Covenant brought with him 

9* 



202 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



at this time into the world ! May we so receive him that, 
by a blessed exchange, as he was clad with our flesh, so we 
may put him on, and be covered with his righteousness, 
and filled with his Spirit ! Salute the cliurch in your 
house. From your servant in the gospel, 

J. F. 

LXXVIL— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Jan. 31, 1765. 
Madam, — You " strive, pray, resist, but are little the better ;" 
yet pray, strive, and resist on. It is good to be tried, and 
to get a blessing in the very fire. We shall then know 
how to value it properly. But let me be free with you, 
madam. Do you pray, resist, and strive against wander- 
ings with any steadiness, and do you do it in cheerful hope 
to overcome through the blood of the Lamb ? When you 
have been unhinged from Christ in mind or heart, do you, 
with stronger indignation against wanderings, a calmer ex- 
pectation of the assistance of the Spirit, and a deeper agony 
of faith, seek to be avenged of your adversary ? Do you 
imitate the importunate widow ? If this be the case, you 
will not complain long ; for whatsoever we thus ask in the 
name of Christ, we shall surely receive ; and should the 
Lord, for reasons best known to himself, try your faith and 
hope, . yet that longer trial will be found to praise and 
honour in the end. Only faint not ; and when you find 
yourself inclined to do so, in all haste fly to the cordial of 
the promises, and determine to take nothing else, till your 
heart is revived and made strong again. 

The same power of God, through praying faith, is ne- 
cessary to keep you from reasoning unprofitably. When- 
ever this arises to any height, there is one thing wanting — a 
steadily exerted will never thus to reason. We cannot be 
so easily betrayed, or slide away into this snare of the devil 
so easily as into the other. I apprehend that whosoever 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 203 



abides steadily purposed not to reason, shall not do it. The 
will starts aside first, the resolution of course followeth, and 
the tempter easily takes their place. Get willing, truly 
willing, under the cross ; and keep there, to keep your will 
in continual subjection to the will of God. 

Last Sunday I preached two sermons upon Heb. xi, 1. 
I see so much in that faith of the apostle, that I can 
hardly pray for anything besides that " evidence of things 
not seen, that substance of things hoped for." To how 
many mistakes and fatal errors have we opened the door 
by varying from the apostle, and pretending to be wiser 
than the Holy Ghost ! The Lord fill you and yours with 
that faith ! Farewell. 

J. F. 

LXXVIII. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, June 2, 1765. 
Madam, — I thank you for the letter of your correspondent. 
What he says about luminous joy may sometimes be the 
case in some of God's children; but I apprehend that 
God's design in withholding from them those gracious 
influences which work upon and melt the sensitive, affec- 
tionate part of the soul, is to put us more upon using the 
nobler powers — the understanding and the will. These are 
always more in the reach of a child of God, while the others 
greatly depend upon the texture of the animal frame ; and 
if they are not stirred in a natural way, the Spirit of God 
can alone, without our concurrence in general, excite them. 
Do you believe, love, take up your cross, and run after Jesus ? 

You must let friends and foes talk about your dress, 
while you mind only Jesus, his word, and your own con- 
science. You talk of hearing me soon. I dare never in- 
vite any one to hear me, though I am glad to see my 
friends ; but now I can invite you with pleasure to come 
and hear a preacher who, under God, will make you amends 



204 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



for the trouble of a journey to Madeley. His name is 

M . He may possibly stay a Sunday or two more with 

me; but Jesus has promised to be always with his poor 
followers. To his merciful hands I commend both you and 
your unworthy friend, 

J. F. 



LXXIX. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Aug. 8, 1765. 
Madam, — Mr. Mather and I have considered your objec- 
tions to our little confession of faith : be pleased to take 
the following short answers : — 

I. We do not forget that God works all good in all men : 
this is clearly implied in our first article. But we do not 
believe that his working is generally irresistible, or that it 
supersedes our being workers together with him. 

II. Can any one work out his salvation by a faith productive 
of sanctification, and yet neglect good works ? Impossible ! 

III. Obdurate sinners, if their day of grace is not over, have 
always power to believe some legal truths at least, and to 
renounce some abominations in consequence of that belief : 
if they resist the Spirit here, what wonder that he does not 
proceed any farther? Convictions of sin, as well as of 
righteousness, are not always so strong as to carry all before 
them. As the dew falls more frequently on the earth than 
hard showers ; so more gentle, less observable, and more 
gradual droppings of grace descend upon earthly hearts, 
more frequently than driving storms of fear, or strong 
transports of love. Their effects may be as gracious, though 
less forcible, and God hath all the glory of the one as well 
as of the other. 

IV. Can convinced sinners, under the sound of " the gospel, 
believe with the heart ?" &c. Through the power of God, 
always more or less present, they can believe with the 
heart those truths which are " suited to then wants, and 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 205 



properly proposed to them." 1 If they cannot, why does 
God call upon them to believe, and send them word they 
shall be damned if they do not ? (Mark xvi, 16.) As to 
your query, " Does not God sometimes delay to confer the 
power to believe, for a trial of the grace of conviction?'' 
we answer, that we see no such thing in the New Testa- 
ment, and that the assertion seems to be a piece of human 
wisdom. Why were not the convictions of the harlot, of 
the three thousand, the five thousand, the jailer, and others, 
tried by a refusal of the gift of faith ? If, therefore, per- 
sons truly convinced of sin do not believe to the comfort 
of their souls, we apprehend the reason to be, their being 
kept in the dark as to the gospel way of salvation, their 
confounding faith and its fruits, their disregarding the one 
talent, and despising the little leaven, and the faith which 
is small as a grain of mustard-seed : in short, their rejecting 
an inward Christ, because he does not make his appearance 
at first as a mighty, glorious conqueror, but as a weak, 
naked, crying babe, who wants both milk and swaddling- 
clothes for his present sustenance. 

" It is granted, that convinced people should be pressed 
to make an effort to believe, not doubting of the Lord's 
concurrence with their attempt." Here, we apprehend, you 
grant us what we contend for ; it being absurd to make any 
attempt toward what is totally impossible. If such people 
ought to attempt to believe now, and not to doubt of the 
Lord's concurrence with their attempt, it follows, that 
either you press them not to doubt of a lie, or that the 
Lord now helps them to believe, if they will accept his help 
in the manner and way it is offered. 

We cannot conceive what ingredient more you would 
require to make faith, than, on the one side, the promise of 
God, and the gracious help of his Spirit ; and, on the other, 
genuine conviction, and an humble attempt to cast ourselves 
on the fidelity, mercy, and power of the Lord. 



206 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 




Indeed, you insinuate that God's concurrence may not 
be granted now. " Perhaps not now," are your words; 
but not those of Ananias, who said to convinced Saul, 
"Arise! why tarriest thou? wash away thy sins, calling," 
or believing, " on the name of the Lord." If God does not 
concur now to help convinced sinners to believe, we still 
affirm that they cannot, without great cruelty, be called 
upon now to attempt an utter impossibility, or, if we may 
use your expression, "to touch heaven with their hand." 
This proviso of yours, this " perhaps not now," seems the 
common way of clogging and mangling the gospel. We 
see nothing of it in Holy Writ ; there we read, " Believe, 
and thou shalt be saved : fear not, only believe," &c. We 
never read, " Believe, but perhaps not now : only believe, 
but first wait God's time ; he does not, perhaps, choose thou 
shouldst believe now." There is the quintessence of the 
poison of the old serpent in the supposition that God com- 
mands now, but is not, perhaps, willing that we should 
obey him now. Believe, perhaps not now. Repent, be 
chaste, be honest, be sober, be charitable, perhaps not now. 
Good God! What room will this "not now" leave for 
present infidelity, uncleanness, drunkenness, injustice, &c, 
and every imaginable abomination ! 

Upon second thoughts, we would hope that your " per- 
haps not now," does not regard our believing, but God's 
bringing forth the top-stone, while we shout, " Grace unto 
it ;" and in this sense we find faith and hope are often 
tried ; yea, to the uttermost. Isaac was not born imme- 
diately on God's making the promise, or Abraham's be- 
lieving it. A joy unspeakable and full of glory does not 
always immediately accompany the belief of the promise of 
forgiveness of sin, and of deliverance from its dominion. 
"Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? 
After that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit 
of promise. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy 




PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 207 



and peace in believing," &c. This was the language of St. 
Paul, and we dare not confound what he distinguishes; 
namely, " believing, and tasting all the rich fruits of faith." 
Concerning some of these, which faith does not in general 
immediately produce, we allow you to say, " perhaps not 
now;" but "though they tarry, yet wait for them, for they 
will surely come." 

" Restless, resign'd, for these I wait, 

For these my vehement soul stands still." 

But observe : 1. That this earnest, patient waiting, is one 
of the blessed fruits of faith, and not something previous to 
it, as you seem to imagine. 2. That we do not suppose it 
necessary for those who are truly convinced of sin, and 
desire to be justified freely by the grace of God, through 
the redemption that is in Christ, to wait at all before they 
believe that "he is made unto them of God righteousness," 
for the present pardon of their sin ; nor for those who are 
truly weary of their carnal mind, to wait before they believe 
that " he is made unto them of God sanctification," for the 
present destruction of it ; for the promise is even now to us 
and to our children, (those that are afar off not excepted,) 
if they lay hold of it by faith. But greater discoveries, 
riper fruits, richer tastes, fuller enjoyments of these bless- 
ings, together with a being more strengthened, established, 
and settled in them, is what we esteem our privilege to ex- 
pect and wait for, in the manner you describe. 

V. You seem to suspect that this faith, on the one hand, 
leads to Antinomianism, and on the other takes from God 
the glory of our salvation. 

As to the first suspicion, we hope it is obviated in our 
second and fourth answers, it being impossible that a faith 
consequent upon real conviction and weariness of sin, and 
begotten by the pure gospel word, through the Spirit, — a 
faith which leads to sanctification and the destruction of 



208 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 




the carnal mind, — a faith which is productive of all the 
ripest fruits of the Spirit, — can be merely notional, or have 
the least tendency to Antinomianism. 

And as to the second, we detest the thought of having 
the least share in the glory of Christ as our only Redeem- 
er, and of the Spirit as our only Sanctifier. We abhor it 
as much as the proud and mad conceit of sharing with God 
the glory of our Creator and Preserver. We constantly 
ascribe to free grace all the honour of man's salvation, 
and are persuaded, that from the first half-formed desire 
raised in the heart, and the least degree of power given for 
the improvement of it, to the final victory over our last 
enemy, all is of grace, of mere grace. But as we may 
give God all the glory of our creation and preservation, 
without supposing that he must breathe, eat, drink, rest, 
dress, plough, and reap for us ; so we apprehend that we 
may give Christ all the glory of our redemption and sal- 
vation without excusing ourselves from the performance of 
what he enjoins, and of his own free, undeserved grace, 
gives us both will and power to do. 

I rejoice that your soul prospers : you need not look 
back any more. When you are tempted to hurry and in- 
ward impatience, remember you are not obliged to give 
way to it. Take up these little crosses patiently, by be- 
lieving, looking inward, and finding Jesus in the midst of 
business. " He is here, he is here, as my all," will break 
many, yea, ten thousand snares. May the peace of God 
be with you and yours ! Farewell. 

J. F. 

LXXX.—TO ME, ALEXANDER MATHER. 



My Dear Brother, — I thank you for your last favour. If 
I answered not your former letter, it was because I was in 
expectation of seeing you, and not from the least disregard. 




PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 209 



I am glad you enjoy peace at Wellington, and I hope you 
will do so at the Trench when you go there. My reasons 
for stepping there myself were not to seize upon the spot 
first, (as the accuser of the brethren may have insinuated,) 
but to fulfil a promise I made to the people of visiting them, 
if they would not countenance a lying wretch who went 
to them from the Bank: all this was previous to my 
knowledge of the invitation they gave you. I desire you 
will call there as often as you have opportunity. An oc- 
casional exhortation from you or your companion, at the 
Bank, Dale, &c, will be esteemed a favour ; and I hope 
that my stepping, as Providence directs, to any of your 
places, (leaving to you the management of the societies,) 
will be deemed no encroachment. In short, we need not 
make two parties. I know but one heaven below, and 
that is Jesus's love : let us both go and abide in it ; and 
when we have gathered as many as we can to go with us, 
too many will stay behind. 

I find there are in the ministry, as in the common ex- 
perience of Christians, times which may be compared to 
winter : no great stir is made in the world of grace besides 
that of storms and offences, and the growth of the trees of 
the Lord is not showy ; but when the tender buds of 
brotherly and redeeming love begin to fill, spring is at 
hand. The Lord give us harvest after seed-time. Let us 
wait for fruit as the husbandman, and remember, that he 
who believes does not make haste. The love of Christ be 
with us all. Pray for 

J. F. 



210 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 




LXXXI. — TO MISS HATTON. 

Madelet, Jan, 13, 1766. 
Madam, — I am almost ashamed of answering your letters 
after my long delays ; but better late than never ; as I 
hope your indulgence will put the best construction on 
what time does not allow me to make an apology for. 

I do not wonder if &c, hath been a snare to 

entangle your thoughts ; but it is now over ; and what is 
that to thee ? follow thou Christ. You may, however, 
learn this lesson, that the minding Christ and our own 
souls, with Mary, while we leave the world to Martha, is 
no easy thing in a day of temptation ; and that no one 
knows what he is till he is tried, and tried in the tenderest 
points, — love, liberty, esteem, and sharp bodily pain. Lord, 
prepare us for such trials, and may we encounter them in 
the whole armour of God ! 

This evening I have buried one of the warmest opposers 
of my ministry, a stout, strong young man, aged twenty- 
four years. About three months ago, he came to the 
church-yard with a corpse, but refused to come into the 
church. When the burial was over, I went to him, and 
mildly expostulated with him. His constant answer was, 
" that he had bound himself never to come to church while I 
was there f adding, " that he would take the consequences ; 
&c. Seeing I got nothing, I left him, saying, with uncommon 
warmth, (though, as far as I can remember, without the 
least touch of resentment,) " I am clear of your blood ; 
henceforth it is upon your own head : you will not come to 
church upon your legs ; prepare to come upon your neigh- 
bours' shoulders.' ' He wasted from that time ; and, to my 
great surprise, hath been buried on the spot where we 
were when the conversation passed between us. When I 
visited him in his sickness, he seemed tame as a wolf in a 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 211 



trap. may God have turned him into a sheep in his 
last hours ! 

This last year is the worst I have had here, — barren in 
convictions, fruitful in backslidings. May this prove for 
us, and for you, the acceptable year of the Lord ! I beg 
your prayers on this behalf. 

I have filled my page, but not with Jesus's name ; let 
your heart contain what my letter wants, — Jesus, and his 
precious blood ; Jesus, and his free, glorious salvation. 
Live to him, breathe for him ; buy, sell, eat, drink, read, 
write for him. Receive him as yours altogether, and 
give him your whole self, with all that is around you. 
Take us all, Lord, into thy gracious favour, stamp us 
with thy glorious image, and conduct us to thy eternal 
kingdom ! 

Present my Christian respects to Mrs. Hatton, your sis- 
ter, and all your friends ; and accept the same from 

Your unworthy brother, J. F. 

LXXXII. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, May> 1766. 
My Bear Friend, — I am sorry, after the manner of men, 
that you are ill, but glad in the spirit that the will of God 
takes place in you ; and that he purges you, that you may 
bring forth more fruit. Now is the time for you to begin 
to be a Christian in good earnest ; I mean, " to follow the 
Man of sorrows ;" and to do it as a lamb who goes to the 
slaughter, and opens not his mouth by way of complaint ; 
though, as a Christian, I apprehend you may and ought to 
open it by way of praise. 

One advice I will venture to give you, or rather, to 
transcribe for you, out of Isaiah : " The believer does not 
make haste " to doubt, to hurry, to forecast, and to reason 
after the manner of men : — " If I am a child of God, why 



212 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

am not I thus and thus ?" Let Christ, either suffering for 
you, or ordering your sufferings, be so eyed, that you may 
in a manner forget and lose yourself in him ; or if a weak 
and pained body makes you think of wretched self, let it 
be to lay it down with composure at Jesus's feet, or to take 
up the burden of the cross with cheerful resignation. I 
hope to hear soon of your being recovered in body, and 
strengthened in soul by this affliction. 

" Is any prayer acceptable to God, which is not the dic- 
tate of his holy Spirit ?" If you mean by " the dictate of 
the Spirit," his influence on the mind, to show us our wants, 
and upon the heart, to make us desire a supply of them, I 
answer, " No for a prayer which hath not, at least, the 
above-mentioned qualities, is only a vain babbling. 

"Does a believer always pray with the Spirit's assist- 
ance ?" Yes, when he prays as a believer, and not as a 
parrot : for, at his lowest times, he has, more or less, a sight 
of his wants, and a desire to have them supplied ; and this 
he could not have, did not the Spirit work upon his mind 
and heart. 

I hope you sink inwardly into nothing, and through 
nothing into the immensity of God. I see a little, through 
mercy, into the beauty of humiliation ; I find the ministry 
of condemnation glorious ; and I love to take every mo- 
ment the curse out of Moses's hand, as well as the bless- 
ing out of Christ's. The Lord grant that you and I, and 
all our friends, may do it more feelingly and constantly 
every hour. 

May the Physician of soul and body refresh, strengthen, 
establish, and thoroughly heal you, by the virtue of his 
blood, and the word of his power ! Bear well, and fare- 
well. Your unworthy servant, 

J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 213 



LXXXHI. — TO THE SAME. 

Madelet, May 27, 1766. 
My Dear Friend, — I am glad to hear that the God of all 
mercy and grace has raised you from the bed of sickness, 
where his love had confined you. It is good to see his 
works in the deep, and then to come and sing his praises 
in the land of the living. A touch of pain or sickness, I 
find always profitable to me, as it rivets on my soul the 
thoughts of my nothingness, helplessness, and mortality, 
and shows me, in a clearer light, the vanity of all the 
transitory scenes of life. May your afflictions have the 
same effect upon you, as long as you five ! May you be 
more steadfast than I am, to retain the deep impressions 
which God's gracious rod may have left upon your soul ; 
and may you learn to lay yourself out more for the Lord, 
and to do " whatsoever your hand findeth to do, with all 
your might ;" knowing that " there is no wisdom nor 
device in the grave, whither we are going." 

If a sparrow falleth not to the ground, nor a hair from 
our head, without our heavenly Father's leave, it is certain 
that the higher circumstances of our life are planned by the 
wise and gracious Governor of all things. This kind of faith 
in Providence I find of indispensable necessity to go calmly 
through life, and I think, too, through death also. 

The coming of Mr. Wesley's preachers into my parish 
gives me no uneasiness ; as I am sensible that everybody 
does better, and, of course, is more acceptable than myself. 
I should be sorry to deprive any one of a blessing ; and I 
rejoice that the work of God goes on, by any instrument, 
or in any place. How far it might have been expedient to 
have postponed preaching regularly in my parish till the 

minister of had been reconciled to the invasion of his ; 

and how far this might have made my way smoother ; I do 



214 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



not pretend to determine. Time will show it ; and, in the 
mean while, I find it good to have faith in Providence. 

I fear I have left as great a stink at Bath as Mr. Brown 
has a sweet savour here. Everything is good to me that 
shows me my unprofitableness more and more ; but I de- 
sire to grieve that the good of my private humiliation is so 
much overbalanced by the loss of many about me. The 
Lord fill you with all peace and joy in your soul, and with 
all strength and health in your body. My respects wait 
upon your mother and sister, and all friends. Farewell. 

J. F. 

LXXXIV. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, June 21, 1766. 
My Dear Friend, — I am much concerned to hear by Mrs. 
Power, that you are so weak ; but my concern has greatly 
increased since I was told that the foundation of your illness 
was laid at Madeley, and, I am afraid, by my imprudence, 
in taking you to the woman with whom we received the 
sacrament. I ask God's pardon and yours for it ; and I 
hope it will be a means of humbling me, and making me 
more tender of my friends. 

The advice you give me about my health is seasonable. 
I hope to follow it; nor am I conscious that I have neg- 
lected it at all : however, I will endeavour that there be 
not so much as the shadow of a call for repeating it. 

If the air at Wem does not agree with you, could you 
not come as far as Madeley ? The remedy is often most 
successfully applied where the wound was given ; and 
though I am no nurse, though I have been the contrary of 
one to you, I hope we should wait upon you with more 
tenderness than when you were here last. Mrs. Power 
would nurse you, and I would talk to you of the love of 
Jesus as well as I could. 

You know that I perceived your bodily weakness when 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



215 



you were here, and charged you with what you charge 
me — a neglect of your body. If I was right, I hope you 
will follow yourself the advice you give me. I am sure 
you will : the burnt child will dread the fire for the time 
to come. 

With regard to kneeling, you must consider what your 
body can bear, without inconvenience to your health. To 
recover that is your outward calling now : therefore, so 
split the hair between the indolence of nature and the 
weakness of your body, that neither of the two may be 
increased. 

Offer yourself to God for life or death, for ease or pain, 
for strength or weakness. Let him choose and refuse 
for you; only do you choose him for your present and 
eternal portion. I want you to be a little bolder in ventur- 
ing upon the bosom of our Lord. We lose (I for one) 
much sweetness, and many degrees of holiness, in being shy 
of the Friend, the loving Friend of sinners. Pray, for 
God's sake, do not forget that your Physician is your hus- 
band. The joy of the Lord, as well as his peace, is to be 
your strength. Love is a passion that wants to be stirred : 
do it in all calmness, — "I will love him, I do love him a 
little, I shall love him much, because he has first loved 
me," &c. Ply, I pray you, this sweet gospel task. Accus- 
tom yourself to look upon your body as the temple of the 
Holy Ghost, and meet him in your heart by simple re- 
collection, and a steady belief of these gospel truths, " He 
is here, he is in me," &c. ; nor do you let them go for any- 
thing you do feel, or you do not feel. May God bless, 
comfort, establish, and raise you ! Farewell. 

J. F. 



216 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



LXXXV. — TO MISS IRELAND. 

Madelet, July — , 1766. 
My very Dear Friend, — The poor account your father has 
brought us of your health, and his apprehensions of not 
seeing you any more, before that solemn day when all peo- 
ple, nations, and tongues shall stand together at the bar of 
God, make me venture (together with my love to you) to 
send you a few lines ; and my earnest prayer to God is, that 
they may be blessed to your soul. 

First, then, my dear friend, let me beseech you not to 
flatter yourself with the hopes of living long here on earth. 
These hopes fill us with worldly thoughts, and make us 
backward to prepare for our change. I would not, for the 
world, entertain such thoughts about myself. I have now 
in my parish a young man who has been these two years 
under the surgeons' hand. Since they have given him up, 
which is about two months ago, he has fled to the Lord, 
and found in him that saving health which surpasses a thou- 
sand times that which the surgeons flattered him with ; and 
he now longs to " depart and be with Christ, which is far 
better." To see the bridge of life cut off behind us, and to 
have done with all the thoughts of repairing it, to go back 
into the world, has a natural tendency to make us venture 
forward to the foot of the cross. 

Secondly. Consider, my dear, how good the Lord is, to 
call you to be transplanted into a better world, before you 
have taken deeper root in this sinful world : and if it is hard 
to nature to die now, how much harder do you think it 
would be, if you lived to be the mother of a family, and to 
cleave to earth by the ties of many new relations, schemes 
of gain, or prospects of happiness ! 

Thirdly. Reflect, by your illness, the Lord, who forecasts 
for us, intimates, long life would not be for his glory, nor 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 217 



your happiness. I believe lie takes many young people 
from the evil to come, and out of the way of those tempta- 
tions or misfortunes which would have made them miserable 
in time and in eternity. 

Fourthly. Your earthly father loves you much ; witness 
the hundreds of miles he has gone for the bare prospect of 
your health : but, my dear, your heavenly Father loves you 
a thousand times better ; and he is all wisdom, as well as 
all goodness. Allow, then, such a loving, gracious Father 
to choose for you ; and if he choose death, acquiesce, and 
say as you can, " Good is the will of the Lord : his choice 
must be best !" 

Fifthly. Weigh the sinfulness of sin, both original and 
actual, and firmly believe " the wages of sin is death." This 
will make you patiently accept the punishment ; especially 
if you consider that Jesus Christ, by dying for us, has taken 
away the sting of death, and turned the grave into a pas- 
sage to a blessed eternity. 

Sixthly. Try, my dear, to get nearer to the gracious Re- 
deemer. " He hath delivered us from the curse of the law, 
being made a curse for us." (Gal. iii, 13.) He hath quench- 
ed the wrath of God in his atoning blood. By his atoning 
blood, by his harmless life and painful death, he has mag- 
nified the law, and satisfied all the demands of divine jus- 
tice ; by his resurrection he asserted the full discharge of 
all our spiritual debts ; by his ascension into heaven, where 
he is gone to prepare us a place, he has opened a way to 
endless glory. By his powerful intercession, and the merits 
of his blood, which plead continually for us, he keeps that 
way open ; and, to encourage us, he assures us, " He is the 
way, the truth, and the life, and that he who comes to him, 
he will in no wise cast out." He mildly offers rest to the 
heavy laden, pardon to the guilty, strength to the feeble, 
and life to the dead. You know his words, " I am the re- 
surrection and the life ; he that believeth on me, though he 

10 



218 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



were dead, yet shall he live ; and he that liveth and believeth 
in me shall never die." 

Seventhly. When you have considered your lost state as 
a sinner by nature, together with the greatness, the fulness, 
the freeness, and suitableness of Christ's salvation ; and 
when you have diligently viewed the glories and charms of 
his person, believe in him. Without any ceremony, choose 
him for your Physician, your Husband, and your King. 
Be not afraid to venture upon and trust in him ; cast your- 
self on him in frequent acts of reliance, and stay your soul 
on him by means of his promises. Pray much for faith, 
and be not afraid of accepting, using, and thanking God for 
a little. The smoking flax he will not quench ; only pray 
hard that he would blow it up into a blaze of light and love. 

Eighthly. Beware of impatience, repining, and peevish- 
ness, which are the sins of sick people. Be gentle, easy to 
be pleased, and resigned as the bleeding Lamb of God. 
Wrong tempers indulged grieve, if they do not quench the 
Spirit. 

Ninthly. Do not repine at being in a strange country, 
far from your friends : and, if your going to France does 
not answer the end proposed to your body, it will answer 
a spiritual end to your soul. God suffers the broken reeds 
of your acquaintance to be out of your reach, that you 
may not catch at them ; and that you may, at once, cast 
your lonesome soul on the bosom of Him who fills heaven 
and earth. 

Tenthly. In praying, reading, hearing any person read, 
and meditating, do not consult feeble, fainting, weary flesh 
and blood : for at this rate, death may find you idle and 
supine, instead of striving to enter in at the strait gate : and 
when your spirits and vigour fail, remember that the Lord 
is the strength of your life, and your portion forever. " O 
death, where is thy sting ? Thanks be to God, who giveth 
us the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord !" 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS, 



219 



Many pray hard for you, that you may acquit yourself, 
living or dying, in ease or in pain, as a wise virgin, and as a 
good soldier of Jesus Christ ; but above all, Jesus, the Cap- 
tain of your salvation, and the High Priest of your profes- 
sion, intercedes mightily for you. Look to him and be saved, 
even from the ends of France. To his pity, love, and 
power, I recommend you. May he bless you,, my dear 
friend ; lift up the light of his countenance upon you, and 
give you peace and courage, repentance, faith, hope, and 
patient love, both now and ever more ! I am your affec- 
tionate, sincere friend, and servant in Jesus. 

J. F. 

LXXXYI. — TO JAMES IRELAND. ESQ. 

Madeley. July — , 1766. 
My very Dear Friend, — Your absence made me postpone 
thanking you for all the kindness you showed me when at 
Bristol : and, to lay me under still greater obligations, you 
have sent me a hamper full of wine, and broadcloth ; as if 
it were not enough to adorn and cover the outside, but you 
must also warm and nourish the inside of the body. 

To this you have added a kind but melancholy letter from 
Dover. Melancholy, I say, as well as kind, by the account 
it gives of the worldliness of our Protestant brethren abroad, 
and of the little hope you have of seeing your daughter 
again. My reason for not answering it immediately was 
the hope of sending by some friends going to Bristol ; and 
now I have the opportunity of telling you, without further 
delay, that you should have a little mercy on yom* friends, 
in not loading them with such burdens of beneficence. How 
would you like to be loaded with kindness you could not 
return ? Were it not for a little of that grace which makes 
us not only willing, but happy to be nothing, to be obliged 
and dependent, your present would make me quite miser- 
able. But the mountains of divine mercy, which press 



220 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



down my soul, have inured me to bear the hills of brotherly 
kindness. 

I submit to be clothed and nourished by you, as your 
servants are, without having the happiness of serving you. 
To yield to this, is as hard to friendship, as to submit to be 
saved by free grace without one scrap of our own righteous- 
ness. However, we are allowed, both in religion and friend- 
ship, to ease ourselves by thanks and prayers till we have 
an opportunity of doing it by actions. I thank you, then, 
my dear friend, and pray to God that you may receive his 
benefits as I do yours. Your broadcloth can lap round me 
two or three times ; but the mantle of divine love, the pre- 
cious fine robe of Jesus's righteousness, can cover your 
soul a thousand times. The cloth, fine and good as it is, 
will not keep out a hard shower ; but that garment of 
salvation will keep out even a shower of brimstone and fire. 
Your cloth will wear out, but that fine linen, " the righteous- 
ness of the saints," will appear with a finer lustre the more 
it is worn. The moth may fret your present, or the tailor 
may spoil it in cutting ; but the present which Jesus has 
made you, is out of reach of the spoiler, and ready for 
present wear : nor is there any fear of cutting it out wrong ; 
for it is seamless, woven from the top throughout, with the 
white, unbroken warp of thirty-three years' perfect obedi- 
ence^, and the red weft of his agony and sufferings unto 
death. 

Now, my dear friend, let me beseech you to accept of 
this heavenly present, as I accept of your earthly one. I 
did not send you one farthing to purchase it ; it came un- 
sought, unasked, unexpected, as the Seed of the woman ; 
and it came just as I was sending a tailor to buy me some 
cloth for a new coat ; immediately I stopped him ; and I 
hope when you next see me it will be in your present. Now, 
let Jesus see you in his. Walk in white, adorn his gospel, 
while he beautifies you with the garment of salvation. Ac- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 221 



cept it freely ; wear no more the old rusty coat of nature 
and self- righteousness ; send no more to have it patched ;* 
make your boast of an unbought suit, and love to wear the 
livery of Jesus. You will then love to do his work; it 
will be your meat and drink to do it : and that you may 
be vigorous in doing it, as I shall take a little of your wine 
for my stomach's sake, take you a good deal of the wine 
of the kingdom for your soul's sake. Every promise of 
the gospel is a bottle, a cask, that has a spring within, and 
can never be drawn out. But draw the cork of unbelief, 
and drink abundantly, beloved, nor be afraid of intoxica- 
tion ; and if an inflammation follow, it will only be that of 
divine love. 

I beg you will be more free with the heavenly wine, 
than I have been with the earthly which you sent me. 
I have not tasted it yet ; but whose fault is it ? Not yours, 
certainly, but mine. If you do not drink daily spiritual 
health and vigour out of the cup of salvation, whose fault 
is it ? Not J esus's, but yours ; for he gives you his righ- 
teousness to cover your nakedness, and the consolations of 
his Spirit to cheer and invigorate your soul. Accept and 
use. Wear, drink, and live to God. That you may heartily 
and constantly do this, is my sincere prayer for you and 
yours, especially your poor daughter, whom I trust you 
have resigned into the hands of Him to whom she is nearer 
than to you. The wise Disposer of all things knows what 
is best for her. The hairs of her head, much more the 
days of her life, are all numbered. The Lord often destroys 
the body, that the soul may be saved : and, if this is the 
case here, as one may reasonably hope, you will not say 
unto the Lord, "What doest thou?" but say, with the fa- 
ther who lost two sons in one day, " It is the Lord, let him 

* Mr. Fletcher's generous friend had kindly requested him not to 
send his coat to be patched : hence this ingenious and affectionate 
reply. 



222 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



do whatsoever he pleaseth;" or, with him who lost ten 
children at one stroke, "The Lord gave, and the Lord 
hath taken away ; and blessed be the name of the Lord." 
Adieu, 

J. F. 

LXXXVII. — TO MISS HATTON. 

Madeley, July 17, 1766. 
My very Dear Friend, — I want to hear of you, if I can- 
not hear from you by a line. The last account I had of 
your state of health was a very poor one. What hath the 
Lord done for your body since ? 

My dear friend, we are all going the way of all flesh, and 
though you are more sensible of the journey in your body 
than I am at present, yet I follow you, or perhaps you 
follow me. I often feel a desire to bear your load for you ; 
but the impossibility of this makes me rejoice that Jesus, 
who does not faint as I might do, will and does carry both 
you and your burden. By a firm, unshaken faith, you know, 
we cast our souls upon Jesus ; and by that power whereby 
he is able to subdue all things to himself, he receives and 
bears that which we commit to him. 

That this faith may be the firmer on our part, let it be 
rational as well as affectionate ; affectionate as well as ra- 
tional. God is good : he does not want us to take his 
word without proof. What expectation of the Messias 
from the beginning of the world! What amazing chains 
of miracles and wonders were wrought in favour of that 
people and family from which he was to come ! What 
prophecies fulfilled ! that we might rationally believe. What 
displays of the Godhead in that heavenly man Christ Jesus ! 
In him dwelt, of a truth, "the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily. " You see the power of God in his miracles ; the 
goodness of God in his character; the justice and mercy 
of God in his death ; the truth, and faithfulness, and glory 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 223 



of God in his resurrection, in the coming of his Spirit, and 
the preaching of his everlasting gospel. O my friend, we 
may believe rationally : we may with calm attention view 
the emptiness of all other religions, and the fulness of assu- 
rance that ours affords. And shall we not believe affec- 
tionately also ? Let us stir up ourselves to love this Jesus, 
who hath given himself to us, with all his blood, all his 
grace, and all his glory. Come, give him your whole soul, 
my dear friend ; and take him, with all his pardons, all his 
love, all his strength. If he wants you to embrace him in 
his faint, bloody sweat, or in his racking tortures on the 
cross, draw not back ; love him, love him : and let not the 
grave frighten you ; it is good to drop our clay in his quiet 
sepulchre, and to follow him on the wings of faith and love, 
without a clog of sickly flesh, to heaven. 

"He died for us, and rose again, that whether we live 
or die, we might be together with him. To us to live is 
Christ, and to die is gain. He hath blotted out " 

I am happily interrupted by your kind letter. Blessed 
be God for the prospect of recovery you mention ! All is 
well that Jesus does. Sick or well, living or dying, we 
will be Jesus's. 

With regard to your complaint of slothfulness, your body 
cannot bear the strong exertions of a wrestling faith, there- 
fore you are called, I apprehend, with a calm consent to 
accept of the gospel tidings, and, with the quietness of a 
child at the breast, to suck the milk of divine consolation. 
Inward, loving, believing recollection and resignation is the 
path into which our heavenly Friend wants now to lead 
you. Be faithful, be bold to follow where he leads : make 
no words, no unbelieving words, and all will be well. 
Farewell in body and soul, 

J. F. 



224 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



LXXXVIIL— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, July 28, 1766. 
My Dear Friend, — I hear still a very indifferent account of 
your health. I stand in doubt as to your bodily life : but 
it is in the hand of Jesus ; and Jesus is wise, Jesus is good, 
Jesus is almighty. He will therefore dispose of you for 
the best. While you see the scales hoveling, and it may 
be that of life slowly descending toward a quiet grave, 
calmly look at Jesus ; and when the feebleness of your 
spirits prevents you from crying out, in ecstatic love, " My 
Lord, and my God !" let your devoted, resigned, patient 
heart still whisper, " Thy will be done !" 

Your last letter raised my hopes of your recovery. Mr. 
Perry, who saw you since, damps them again ; but " whether 
we live, we live unto the Lord ; or whether we die, we die 
unto the Lord." Not for works of righteousness that we 
have done, but according to his mercy he saveth us. Glory 
be to God for his unspeakable gift ! Jesus remembers you 
in his all-prevailing intercession ; and, I might add, I do in 
my prayers, if the weight of a dancing mote deserved to be 
mentioned after that of an immense mountain. 

I am, with Christian respects to our kind, loving friends 
at Wem, your poor Madeley friend, 

J. F. 

LXXXIX. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, July 30, 1766. 
My Dear Friend, — So you are likely to be at rest first ! 
Well, the Lord's will be done ! I should be glad to have 
you stay to help us to the kingdom of God ; but if God 
wants to take you there, and house you before a storm, I 
shall only cry, " One of the chariots of Israel, and the 
horsemen thereof !" and try to make the best of my way 
after you. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 225 



A calm receiving of the gospel tidings, upon a conviction 
of your lost estate, with suitable tempers, is a sign that you 
are in a safe state ; but I want you altogether in a com- 
fortable one. Your business, I apprehend, is not to turn 
the dunghill of nature, but to suck the gospel milk. Dwell 
much,- if not altogether, upon "free justification, through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus." View the sufficiency, 
fulness, suitableness, freeness of his atonement and right- 
eousness ; and hide yourself without delay under both. 
Look at death only as a door to let you out of manifold in- 
firmities and pains, into the arms of Jesus, your heavenly 
Bridegroom. Stir up faith, hope, and love ; that is trim- 
ming your lamp. Since last Monday, I find the burden of 
your soul upon mine in a very particular manner ; and I 
hope that I shall not cease to pray for you, that you may 
go not only calmly, but joyfully, the way of all flesh. I 
have got some praying souls to share with me in this pro- 
fitable work ; and I hope you will meet our spirits at the 
throne of grace, as we do yours. 

Let me have the comfort of thinking that you are with 
your Physician, Husband, and All, who will order all things 
for the best. Pray hard, believe harder, and love hardest. 
Let the cry of your soul be, " None but Jesus living ; none 
but Jesus dying." Let Christ be your life ; and then death, 
whether it come sooner or later, will be your gain. 

Mr. Glazebrook waits for these lines, and I conclude by 
again entreating you to believe. " Only believe," said Jesus 
to the ruler; and faith will work by love, and love by a 
desire to depart and to be with Christ. G-od the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, bless, uphold, and comfort you ! 

Farewell, and forget not to pray for 

Your helpless friend, 

J. F. 

10* 



226 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XC. — TO MISS . 

My very Dear Friend, — The providence of our good God 
brought me safe here last Thursday, loaded with a sense 
of your excessive kindness, and my excessive unworthiness 
of it. Your Araunah-like spirit shames and distresses me : 
I am not quite satisfied about your evasions with respect to 
the bill ; and though I grant it more blessed to give than 
to receive, I think you should not be so selfish as to engross 
all that blessedness to yourself. Nevertheless, I drop my 
upbraidings, not to lose that time in them which I should 
save to thank you, and to praise Jesus. I thank you, then, 
for all your favours ; but, above all, for your secret prayers 
for a poor unworthy, unprofitable wretch, who deserves 
neither the name of a minister nor of a Christian. If you 
are so kind as to continue them, (which I earnestly beg you 
will,) I beseech you pray that I may have power to tarry 
at the footstool of divine mercy for a day of pentecost, till 
I am endued with power from on high for the work of the 
ministry and the blessings of Christianity. 

I know not whether I am wrong in this respect, but I 
expect a power from on high to make me what I am not — 
an instrument to show forth the praises of the Redeemer, 
and .to do some good to the souls of my fellow-creatures. 
Until this power comes, it appears to me that I spend my 
paltry strength in vain, and that I might as well sit still. 
But I know I must keep rowing, though the wind be con-" 
trary, till Jesus comes walking upon the waters, though it 
were in the last watch of the night. 

You see, that while you praise on the top of the moun- 
tain, I hang my untuned harp on the mournful willow at 
the bottom. But Jesus was in Gethsemane, as well as on 
Tabor ; and while he blesses you, he sympathizes with me. 
But this is speaking too much about self: good and bad 



PASTORAL AXD FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



227 



self must be equally denied ; and He that is the fulness of 
Him who fills all in all, must fill my thoughts, my desires ; 
my letters, and my all. Come then, Lord, come and drop 
into our souls, as the dew into Gideon's fleece ; drop thy 
blessing on these fines ! and may thy blessed name, Jesus, 
" Emmanuel, God with us," be as ointment and rich per- 
fumes poured upon my dear sister's soul ! Spread thy 
wings of love over her ; reward her a hundredfold in tem- 
poral and spiritual blessings, for the temporal and spiritual 
mercies she hath bestowed upon me as thy servant ! and 
vouchsafe to make and keep me such ! 

I want you to write to me what you think of the fife of 
faith, and whether you breathe it without interruption ; 
whether you never leave that rich palace, Christ, to return 
to that dungeon, self; what your feelings are when faith 
is at its lowest ebb, and when it acts most powerfully. I 
should be glad also if you would answer these questions : 
What views have you of another world ? What sense have 
you of the nearness of Christ ? What degree of fellowship 
with the souls nearest your heart ? What particular inti- 
mations of the will of God in intricate affairs and material 
steps ? And whether you can reconcile the life of faith 
with one wrong temper in the heart ? 

If you are so good as to answer these questions at large, 
you will oblige me more than if you were to send me two 
hundred waistcoats and as many pairs of stockings. Jesus 
is life, love, power, truth, and righteousness. Jesus is ours ; 
yea, he is over all, through all, and in us all. May we so 
fathom this mystery, and so evidence the reality of it, that 
many may see, and fear, and turn to the Lord ! My kind 
love and thanks wait upon your sisters, d:c. Farewell in 
Jesus. Pray for your obliged, unworthy servant, 

J. F. 



228 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



XCI. — TO MISS HATTON. 

Madelet, Sept. — , 1766. 
My very Dear Friend, — God wonderfully supports your 
tottering clay, that he may fill up what is lacking in your 
faith. Concur with the merciful design ; arise in spirit, 
shake off the dust of earthly thoughts, put on your glorious 
apparel, — put on, every moment, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Dare to believe ; on Christ lay hold ; wrestle with Christ in 
mighty, or even in feeble prayer. He breaks not the bruised 
reed ; let the reed be grafted, by simple faith, in the true 
vine, in the tree of life, and it will bring forth glorious fruit ; 
not only resignation, but power to welcome the king dis- 
armed of his terrors, and turned into a messenger of joy, 
and a guide, under Christ, to heavenly happiness. Let not 
one feeble breath pass without carrying an act of desire, or 
of faith, toward Christ. Bestir yourself to lay hold on 
God ; and when you find an absolute want of power, be 
you the more careful to lie at the feet of Him who hath all 
power given him in earth and heaven for you. Farewell, 
my dear friend ; that is, be found in Christ ; for there only 
can we fare well, whether we live or die. 

J. F. 

XCIL— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Jan. 9, 1767. 
My Dear Friend, — The alteration for the worse I discover- 
ed in your health, the last time I had the pleasure of seeing 
you, makes me sit down to take a survey with you of our 
approaching dissolution. The dream of life will soon be 
over ; the morning of eternity will soon succeed. Away 
then with all the shadows of time. Away from them to the 
eternal Substance ; to Jesus, the first and the last, by whom, 
and for whom, all things consist. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



229 



We stand on the shore of a boundless ocean : death, like 
a lion, comes to break our bones : let us quietly strip our- 
selves of our mortal robes, that he may do with us as the Lord 
shall permit. In the mean while, let us step into the ark : 
Christ is the ark. My dear friend, believe in Jesus : be- 
lieve that your sins, red as crimson, are made white as snow, 
by the superior tincture of his blood. Believe yourself into 
Christ. By simple faith, believe that he is your everlast- 
ing head : nor can you believe a lie ; for God hath given 
that Saviour to the worst of sinners, to be received by a 
lively faith ; and hath declared, that it shall be done unto 
us according to our faith. If you simply take Jesus to be 
your head by the mystery of faith, you will be united to 
the resurrection and the life. The bitterness of death is 
past, my dear friend. Only look to Jesus : he died for 
you, — died in your place, died under the frowns of heaven, 
that we might die under its smiles. The head was struck 
off that the members might be spared. Stand, then, in 
him ; be found in him ; plead that he hath wrought a sin- 
less righteousness for you, and hath more than sufficiently 
atoned for you by his cruel sufferings and ignominious 
death. Regard neither unbelief nor doubt ; fear neither sin 
nor hell ; choose neither life nor death : all these are swal- 
lowed up in the immensity of Christ, and triumphed over 
in his cross. 

Believe that he hath made an end of sin ; that you are 
comely in him ; that you are pardoned, accepted, and be- 
loved of God, in the one Mediator, Jesus Christ. Reason 
not with the law ; but only with Him who says, " Come, 
and let us reason together : though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be as white as snow." Fight the good fight of 
faith. Hold fast your confidence in the atoning, sanctify- 
ing blood of the Lamb of God : through his blood the ac- 
cuser of the brethren is cast out. Confer no more with 
flesh and blood. Hunger and thirst after righteousness; 



230 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



eat the flesh, and drink the blood of the Redeemer ; and 
live in Christ, that you may die in him. Up, and be doing 
the work of God. Believe in Him whom he hath sent: 
kiss the Son, lest he be angry; grasp him, as one who 
hath fallen into deep waters grasps the branch that hangs 
over him. 

slumber' no more ! Go, meet the bridegroom. Be- 
hold, he cometh ! Trim your lamp ; hold up the vessel of 
your heart to the streaming wounds of Jesus, and it shall 
be filled with the oil of peace and gladness. Quit yourself 
like a soldier of Jesus. Look back to the world, the things 
and friends about you, no more. I entreat you, as a com- 
panion in tribulation, I charge you, as a minister, go, at 
every breath you draw, according to the grace and power 
given you, to the physician, who gives nobody over ; that 
says, " Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast 
out ;" and, " He that believeth in me, though he were dead, 
yet shall he live." 

Ere long there will be time no more. my friend, stir 
up yourself to lay hold on him by faith and prayer ; and 
let not those few sands that remain in your glass flow with- 
out the blood of Jesus. They are too precious to be 
offered up to slothful flesh, which is going to turn out its 
immortal inhabitant. Gladly resign your dust to the dust 
whence it was taken, and your spirit to him who gave and 
redeemed it. Look to him, in spite of flesh and blood, of 
Satan and unbelief ; and joyfully sing the believer's song : 
" O death, where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy vic- 
tory ? Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through 
our Lord Jesus Christ !" Let your surviving friends re- 
joice over you as one " faithful unto death," as one triumph- 
ing in death itself. 

1 am just informed of Dear Miss Fragena's death. She 
caught a fever in visiting the poor sick of that distemper, 
and lived a week to stand and rejoice in dying pains. As 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



231 



she lived she died, a burning and a shining light. Ere long 
you will meet her in Abraham's bosom, whence she beckons 
you to follow her as she followed Christ. Be of good cheer, 
be not afraid ; the same God who helped her will carry you 
through. Your business is to commend yourself to him; 
his to keep safe that which you commit to him unto that 
day. To his faithfulness and love I commend you ; and 
am, my dear friend, Yours in him, 

J. F. 

XCIIL— TO MRS. HATTON. 

Madeley, Jan. 30, 1767. 
Dear Madam, — I heard last night the news of Miss Hat- 
ton's death. As the stroke had long threatened you, and 
as she had, through mercy, long ago resigned herself to it, 
I hope it hath not found you without the shield of resigna- 
tion, patience, and confidence in God. A sparrow, you 
know, falls not to the ground without his permission ; much 
less can a member of his Son fall into the grave without 
his direction. Surely his wisdom is infallible : he hath 
chosen the better part both for you and your daughter ; he 
hath chosen to take her out of her misery, to translate her 
to the place where the weary are at rest ; and to give you, 
by removing her, an opportunity of caring for your soul as 
you cared for her body. 

Now what have you to do, madam, but to put your hand 
upon your mouth, and say, " It is the Lord ; he gave, and 
he hath taken away ; blessed be his holy name !" If you 
sorrow, let it be in hope of meeting her soon, all glorious 
within and without, whom you lately saw such a spectacle of 
mortality. David observed, (in the lesson for this morning,) 
that the love of Jonathan had been better to him than the 
love of women. O dwell much upon the consideration of 
the love of Jesus, and you will find that it far surpasses 
that of the most dutiful children : and comfort yourself by 



232 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



the believing thought that Jesus lives, lives for you, and 
that your daughter lives in him ; where you will soon have 
the joy to meet her as an incarnate angel. 

I am, with prayers for you and Miss Fanny, to whom I 
wish much consolation in her elder, never-dying Brother, 
dear madam, your un worth v, obliged servant in Christ, 

J. F. 

XCIV. — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Madeley, Feb., 1767. 
My very Dear Friend, — The Lord will spare your daughter 
as long as she can get good, and do you and others good 
by the sight of her sufferings : when that cup is drunk up, 
she will be willing to go, and you to let her go. Remember 
she is the Lord's much more than yours ; and that what 
we call " dying," is only breaking the shell of a troublesome 
body, that Christ may fully come at the kernel of the soul, 
which he has bought. 

Poor Miss Hatton died last Sunday fortnight, full of 
serenity, faith, and love. The four last hours of her life 
were better than all her sickness. When the pangs of 
death were upon her, the comforts of the Almighty bore 
her triumphantly through, and some of her last words were, 
" Grieve not at my happiness : — this world is no more 
to me than a bit of burnt paper. Grace ! grace ! A sinner 
saved ! I wish I could tell you half of what I feel and see. 
I am going to keep an everlasting Sabbath. death, 
where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks 
be to God, who giveth me the victory through my Lord 
Jesus Christ !" It is very remarkable that she had hardly 
any joy in her illness : but God made her ample amends 
in her extremity. He kept the strongest cordial for the 
time of need : he does all things well. Blessed, forever 
blessed, be his holy name ! 

Worcestershire also lately lost a wise virgin of a truth, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 233 

dear Miss Fragena, Mr. Biddulph's sister. The morning 
before she expired, she said, " I have had a stronger con- 
flict last night than I ever had in all my life ; it was sharp 
and terrible ; but Jesus hath overcome, and he will also 
overcome for you and me : be of good courage ; believe, 
hope, love, and obey." 

I wish you had often such meetings as that you mention : 
every one should have as many thrusts at that crooked 
serpent, that holy devil, bigotry, as he can. If I can leave 
my parish, I believe it will be to accompany Lady Hunt- 
ingdon to the Goshen of our land, Yorkshire, to learn the 
love of Christ at the feet of my brethren and fathers there. 
I am obliged to you for the present you mention. I have 
taken again to the drink of my country, — water, which 
agrees well with me, and I shall not want it for myself : if 
it is not sent, diminish or stop it, according to this notice. 
Farewell, in the Lord Jesus. 

J. F. 

XCV.— TO MISS BRAIN. 

Madeley, Feb., 1767. 
I hope my friend Mr. Ireland will not grudge me the room 
I take in this letter, to thank you for your last. It is tra- 
velling about, seeking its fortune, as well as the first : who 
knows but before it comes home, it will, like a baited hook, 
bring a fish along with it ? I hope you go on and prosper, 
and do valiantly. I am glad to see the Lord leads you in 
the exalted way of exulting faith, triumphant hope, and 
rapturous love. Mount higher and higher : there is no fear 
of your losing yourself, except it be in the boundless tracks 
of divine mercy, and on the eternal hills of redeeming love ; 
and to be lost there is to be happily found. I rejoice that 
you do not lose sight of the depth of human misery and 
depravity,— out of Jesus. With this ballast, the strongest 
blasts of spiritual rapture will never overset you. I also 



234 PASTORAL AMD FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



thank God, that your faith works by love, and that you 
love not in pen and word only, but in deed and in truth : 
see that you abound herein more and more. As I trust you 
love to do well to your neighbours' bodies, see that you use 
well that of a neighbour of mine, whose name is Brain, and 
put her in remembrance to pray for 

Her affectionate brother and unworthy servant, 

J. F. 

XCVI. — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Madeley, March 30, 1767. 
My very Dear Friend, — Yesterday I received your kind 
letter, and your kind present about a month ago : it came 
safe, and is a large stock for the poor and me. The Lord 
return it you in living water : may it flow like a never-fail- 
ing stream through your soul, and those of all who are 
near and dear to you ; that is, not only those who belong 
to your own household, but also to the household of faith. 
What a pleasure to love all ; and to be a well-wisher to all ! 
I am glad you keep up your catholic meeting : a dozen of 
your way of thinking and acting would break the legs of 
that thief, bigotry, who reviles the crucified members of the 
crucified Jesus. God, who vouchsafed to meet even Ba- 
laam, when he went to curse Israel, will not fail to bless 
you, . when you go to bless the scattered Israel of our 
Christ. 

To return to your present : I return you my sincere 
thanks for it, as well as for all your former favours, and for 
your kind offers of new ones. I have one to ask now, which 
is, that you would stay your hand, and allow me to con- 
sume and wear out the old presents, without overcharging 
me with new ones. I do not say, stay your heart : no, let 
the oil of prayer flow from the cruise of your soul for me 
and mine, till our poor vessels are filled with the oil of 
humble love. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



235 



What you say about Miss Ireland's filling, puts me in 
mind of that worse disease of my heart, the dropsy of self. 
God gives me good physic and good food ; but instead of 
digesting both properly, self retains what it should not. 
I fill, instead of remaining empty for fresh food ; I lose my 
appetite, I swell, and am good for nothing but another ope- 
ration. May the Lord so tap us that all our swelling may 
go down, and return no more ! The good Samaritan, who 
is also a good physician, wants to tap you spiritually by 
the bodily tapping of your daughter. To be cut in the 
fruit of our body is, sometimes, more painful than to be cut 
in our own body : may both she and you reap the fruit of 
the successful operation whenever it takes place ! I am, 
with cordial affection, my dear sir, 

Your very much obliged, though very unworthy servant, 

J. F. 

XC V II. — TO THE SAME. 

Made ley, April 27, 1767. 
My very Dear Friend, — I have just received your letter, 
upon my arrival from Wales, with dear Lady Huntingdon, 
who is, of a truth, a tried stone, built upon the Corner- 
stone ; and such as you have seen her, such, I am persuaded, 
you will find her to the last, — a soul devoted to Jesus, liv- 
ing by faith, going to Christ himself by the Scriptures, in- 
stead of resting in the letter of the gospel promises, as too 
many professors do. 

I thank you for your care to procure not only a sup- 
ply for my church, but such an agreeable, acceptable, 
and profitable one as Mr. Brown : I know none that 
should be more welcome than he. Tell him, with a thou- 
sand thanks for his condescension, that I deliver my 
charge over to him fully, and give him a carte blanche, to 
do or not to do, as the Lord will direct him. I have set- 
tled it that I should endeavour to overtake my lady at 



236 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



Kippax, in Yorkshire, against the Sunday after Whitsun- 
tide. 

I have just time to tell you, with regard to the Bristol 
journey, that I must come first from the north, before I 
dream of going to the south. God help us to steer inces- 
santly to the grand point of our salvation, Jesus the cruci- 
fied. To him I recommend myself and you, and my 
noble guests. Love him, praise him, serve him, who hath 
loved you, bought you, and died for you. I remain, &c. 

J. F. 

XCVIII. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, July 30, 1768. 
My Dear Friend, — Uncertain as I am whether your 
daughter is yet alive, or whether the Lord hath called her 
from this vale of darkness and tears, I know not what to 
say to you on the subject ; but this, Lhat our heavenly 
Father appoints all things for the best. If her days of 
suffering are prolonged, it is to honour her with a con- 
formity to the crucified Jesus ; if they are shortened, she 
will have drunk all her cup of affliction ; and I flatter 
myself, that she has found at the bottom of it, not the 
bitterness and the gall of her sins, but the honey and wine 
of our divine Saviour's righteousness, and the consolations 
of his Spirit. 

I had lately some views of death, and it appeared to me 
in the most brilliant colours. What is it to die, but to open 
our eyes after the disagreeable dream of this life, after the 
black sleep in which we are buried on this earth ? It is to 
break the prison of corruptible flesh and blood, into which 
sin hath cast us ; to draw aside the curtain, to cast off the 
material veil, which prevents us from seeing the supreme 
beauty and goodness face to face. It is to quit our polluted 
and tattered raiment, to be invested with robes of honour 
and glory ; and to behold the Sim of righteousness in his 



PASTOEAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



237 



brightness, without an interposing cloud. my dear friend, 
how lovely is death when we look at it in Jesus Christ ! To 
die is one of the greatest privileges of the Christian. 

If Miss Ireland be still living, tell her a thousand times 
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life ; that he hath 
vanquished and disarmed death ; that he hath brought life 
and immortality to light; and that all things are ours, 
whether life or death, eternity or time. These are those 
great truths upon which she ought to risk, or rather, to 
repose, her soul with full assurance. Everything is 
shadow and a lie, in comparison of the reality of the gospel. 
If your daughter be dead, believe in Jesus, and you shall 
find her again in him ; who fills all in all, who encircles the 
material and spiritual world in his arms, in the immense 
bosom of his divinity. 

I have not time to write to Mrs. Ireland ; but I entreat 
her to keep her promise, and to inform me what victories 
she has gained over the world, the flesh, and sin. Surely 
when a daughter is dead or dying, it is high time for a 
father and a mother to die to all things below, and aspire in 
good earnest to that eternal life which God has given us in 
Jesus Christ. Adieu, my dear friend. 

Yours, J. F. 

XCIX. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Oct. 14. 1768. 
My very Dear Friexd, — I think I told you at Trevecka, 
that we had no farmers at Madeley, who feared God and 
loved Jesus. This generation among us are buried in the 
furrows of their ploughs, or under the heaps of corn which 
fill their granaries. Xow that I am on the spot, I do not 
see one who makes it necessary for me to change my 
opinion.* Your bailiff cannot come from this Nazareth. 

* Thank God, this is not now the character of all the farmers of 
Madeley '.—Editor. 



1 



238 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



If the last efforts of the physicians fail with respect to 
Miss Ireland, it will at least be a consolation to you to know 
that they have been tried. When the last reed shall 
break under her hand, that will be the great signal to her 
to embrace the cross and the Crucified, the tree of life, and 
the fruits it bears, which give everlasting health and vigour. 
When we consider this with an evangelical eye, we discover 
that everything dies. Things visible are all transitory ; but 
invisible ones abide forever. If Christ be our life and our 
resurrection, it is of little importance whether we die now, 
or thirty years hence : and if we die without embracing 
him, by dying now, Ave shall have abused his mercies 
thirty years less than if we had lived so many years longer. 
Everything turns out well, both life and death, our own 
and that of those who are near to us. 

Present my respects to your son, and tell him, that last 
week I buried three young persons of a malignant fever, 
who, on the second day of their illness, were deprived of 
their speech and senses, and on the fifth, of then lives. 
Of what avail are youth and vigour when the Lord lifts his 
finger"? And shall we sin against the eternal power, the 
infinite love, the inexorable justice, and the immense good- 
ness of this God : who gives us, from moment to moment, 
the breath which is in our nostrils ? ISTo : we will employ 
the precious gift in praising and blessing this good G-od, 
who is our Father in Jesus Christ. 

I hope that you learn, as well as I, and better than I, to 
know Jesus in the Spirit. I have known him after the 
flesh, and after the letter; I strive to know him in the 
power of his Spirit. Under the divine character of a 
quickening Spirit, he is everywhere, All that live, live in 
him ; and they who are spiritually alive, have a double life. 
The Lord give us this second life more abundantly ! 

Yours, J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 239 



C— TO MISS IRELAND. 

Madeley, Dec. 5, 1768. 
My Dear Afflicted Friexd, — I hear you are returned 
from the last journey you took in search of bodily health. 
Your heavenly Father sees fit to deny it you, not because 
he hateth you, (" for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,") 
but because health and life might be fatal snares to your 
soul, out of which you could not escape but by tedious 
illness, and an early death. Who knows, also, whether, by 
all you have suffered and still suffer, our gracious Lord 
does not intend to kill you to the flesh and to the world, 
and both to you ? Besides, out* hearts are so stupid, and 
our insensibility so great, that the Father of our spirits sees 
it necessary to put some of his sharpest and longest thorns 
into our flesh, to make us go to our Jesus for the balmy 
graces of his Spirit. 

I believe some are driven out of all the refuges of crafty 
and indolent nature, only by the nearest and last approaches 
of that faithful minister and servant of Christ, death. Of 
this I had a remarkable instance no later than last Monday, 
when God took to himself one of my poor afflicted parish- 
ioners, a boy of fifteen years of age, who was turned out of 
the infirmary two years ago as incurable. From that time 
he grew weaker every day by the running of a wound ; but 
his poor soul did not gather strength. In many respects 
one would have thought his afflictions were lost upon him. 
He seemed to rest more in his sufferings, and in his patience 
under them, than in the Saviour's blood and righteousness. 
Being worn to a skeleton, he took to his death-bed ; where 
I found him the week before last, with his candle burning 
in the socket, and no oil seemingly in the vessel. I spent 
an hour in setting before him the greatness of his guilt in 
this respect, that he had been so long under the rod of 



240 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



God, and had not been whipped out of his careless unbelief 
to the bosom of Jesus Christ. He fell under the convic- 
tion, confessed that particular guilt, and began to call on the 
Lord with all the earnestness his dying frame would allow. 
This was on the Wednesday ; and on the Wednesday fol- 
lowing, the God who delivers those that are appointed to 
die, set one of his feet upon the rock, and the next Sunday 
the other. He had chiefly used that short petition of the 
Lord's prayer, " Thy kingdom come :" and spent his last 
hours in testifying, as his strength would allow, that the 
kingdom was come, and he was going to the King; to 
whom he invited his joyful, mournful mother to make the 
best of her way after him. Five or six days before his death, 
my wicked, unbelieving heart might have said, " To what 
purpose hath God afflicted so long and so heavily this poor 
worm ?" But the Lord showed that he had been all that while 
driving the spear of consideration and conviction, till at last 
it touched him in a sensible part, and made him cry to the 
Saviour in earnest. And who ever called upon him in vain ? 
No one ! Not even that poor indolent collier-boy, who for 
two years would not so much as cross the way to hear me 
preach. Yet how good was the Lord ! Because his body 
was too weak to bear any terrors in his mind, he showed 
him mercy without. The moment I heard him pray, and 
saw him feel after a Saviour, my fears on his account van- 
ished ; and though he had not been suffered to testify so 
clearly of God's kingdom, yet I should have had a joyful 
hope that God had taken him home. 

Like the poor youth and myself, you have but one enemy, 
my dear friend, — an indolent, unbelieving heart ; but the 
Lord hath driven it to a corner, to make you cry to Him 
who hath been waiting at the door all these years of trouble, 
to bring you pardon, peace, and eternal life, in the midst 
of the pangs of bodily death. Jesus is his name. Salvation 
and love are his nature. He is the Father of eternity, — 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 241 

your Father, of course. All the love that is in Mr. Ireland's 
breast, is nothing to the abyss of love that is in your Creator's 
heart. " A mother may forget her sucking child ; but I 
will not forget thee," says he to every poor, distressed soul 
that claims his help. 

fear not, my friend, to say, " I will arise, and go to this 
Father, though I have sinned greatly against heaven, and 
in his sight." Lo, he rises ; and runs to meet and embrace 
you. He hath already met you in the virgin's womb ; 
there he did so cleave to your flesh and spirit, that 
he assumed both, and wears them as a pledge of love 
to you. Claim in return — claim, as you can — his blood 
and Spirit. Both are now the property of every dying 
sinner that is not above receiving by faith the unspeak- 
able gift. 

Your father has crossed the sea for you : Jesus has done 
more ; he hath crossed the abyss that lies between heaven 
and earth, between the Creator and the creature. He has 
waded through the sea of his tears, blood, and agonies, not 
to take you to the physician at Montpellier, but to become 
your Physician and Saviour himself ; to support you under 
all your bodily tortures, to sanctify all your extremities, and 
to heal your soul by his multiplied stripes. Your father 
has spared no expense to restore you to health ; but Jesus, 
who wants you in your prime, hath spared no blood in his 
veins to wash you from your sins, write your pardon, and 
seal your title to glory. 

my friend, delay not cheerfully to surrender yourself 
to this good Shepherd. He will gladly lay you on the arm 
of his power, torn as you are with the bruises of sin and 
disease, and will carry you triumphantly to his heavenly 
sheepfold. Look not at your sins, without beholding his 
blood and righteousness. Eye not death, but to behold 
through that black door your gracious Saviour, saying, 
" Fear not, thou of little faith ; wherefore dost thou 

11 



242 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



doubt?" Consider not eternity but as the palace where 
you are going to enter with the Bridegroom of souls, and 
rest from all your sins and miseries. View not the con- 
demning law of God, but as made honourable by Him who 
was a curse for you, and bore the malediction of the law, 
by hanging, bleeding, and dying, on the cursed tree in your 
place. If you think of hell, let it be to put you in mind to 
believe that the blood of God incarnate hath quenched its de- 
vouring flames. If you have no comfort, mistrust not Jesus 
on that account ; on the contrary, take advantage from it 
to give greater glory to God, by believing, as Abraham 
did, "in hope against hope." And let this be your greatest 
comfort, that Jesus, who had all faith and patience, cried 
out for you in his dying moments, " My God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me !" As your strength will bear exer- 
tion, and his grace apprehended will allow, surrender your- 
self constantly to him as the purchase of his blood, and in- 
vite him earnestly to you, as a poor worm perishing without 
him. In this simple, gospel way, wait the Lord's leisure, 
and he will comfort your heart. He will make all his 
goodness to pass before you here, or take you hence to 
show you, what you could not bear in flesh and blood, the 
direct beams of the uncreated beauty of your heavenly 
Spouse. 

I hope you take care to have little or nothing else men- 
tioned to and about you, but his praises and promises. 
Your tongue and ears are going to be silent in the grave : 
now or never, use them to hear and speak good of his name. 
Comfort your weeping friends : reprove the backsliders : 
encourage seekers. Water, and you shall be watered. 
Death upon you makes you, through Christ, a mother in 
Israel. Arise, as Deborah. Remember the praying, be- 
lieving, preaching, though dying, thief ; and be not afraid 
to drop a word for him who openeth a fountain of blood for 
you in his dying, tortured body. Suffer, live, die, at his feet ; 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



243 



and you will soon revive, sing, and reign in his bosom for- 
evermore. Farewell in the Conqueror of death and Prince 
of life. J. F. 

CI.— TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Madeley, March 26, 1769. 
My Dear Friend, — The Lord is desirous of making you a 
true disciple of his dear Son, the Man of sorrows, by send- 
ing you affliction upon affliction. A sister and a wife who 
appear to hasten to the grave, in which you have lately 
laid your only daughter, places you in circumstances of un- 
common affliction. But in this see the finger of Him who 
works all in all, and who commands us to forsake all to fol- 
low him. Believe in him ; believe that he does all for the 
best, and that all shall work for good to those who love 
him; and you shall see the salvation of God, and, with 
your temptations and trials, he shall open a door of deliver- 
ance for you and yours. His goodness to your daughter, 
ought to encourage your faith and confidence for Mrs. Ire- 
land. Offer her upon the altar ; and you shall see that, if 
it be best for her and you, his grace will suspend the blow 
which threatens you. 

Your rich present of meal came last week, and shall be 
distributed to the pious poor, agreeably to your orders, as 
a proof that Jesus, the liberal Jesus, the bread of life, is 
indeed risen and lives in his members, who mutually aid 
and comfort each other. We are happy to receive your 
bounty ; but you are more happy in bestowing it upon us : 
witness the words of Jesus,—" it is more blessed to give 
than to receive/' Nevertheless, receive by faith the pre- 
sents of the Lord, the gifts of his Spirit, and reject not 
the bread which cometh down from heaven, because the 
Lord gives you it with so much love. Adieu. The God 
of peace be with you, and prepare you for whatever it shall 
please him to appoint. 



244 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



I shall be obliged to go to Switzerland this year or the 
next, if I live, and the Lord permit. I have there a 
brother, a worthy man, who threatens to leave his wife 
and children to come and pay me a visit, if I do not go 
and see him myself. It is some time since our gracious 
God has convinced him of sin, and I have by me some of 
his letters which give me great pleasure. This circum- 
stance has more weight with me than the settlement of my 
affairs. Yours, 

J. F 

CIL— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, May 27, 1769. 
My Dear Friend, — I sympathize with you with all my 
heart, and I pray that you may have patience and wisdom 
proportioned to your difficulties. You must take up your 
cross, and pray in secret, like a man whose earthly cisterns 
are broken on every side, and who hath need of consolation 
from feeling the fountain of living waters springing up in 
his soul unto eternal life. I have every moment need to 
follow the advice I give to you ; but my carnal mind makes 
strong resistance. I must enter into life by death ; I must 
be crucified on the cross of Christ, before I can live by the 
power of his resurrection. The Lord give us grace to die 
to ourselves ; for it is not enough to die to our relatives. 
Blessed, indeed, is that union with J esus Christ by which a 
believer can cast upon that Rock of ages, not only his bur- 
dens, but himself, — the heaviest burden of all. Lord, 
give us power to believe with that faith which works by 
the prayer of confidence and love ! 

I am, &c, J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



245 



C III.— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Dec. 30, 1769. 
My Dear Friend, — Last night I received your obliging let- 
ter, and am ready to accompany you to Montpellier, provi- 
ded you will go with me to Nyon. I shall raise about 
twenty guineas ; and with that sum, a gracious Providence, 
and your purse, I hope we shall want for nothing. If the 
Lord send me, I shall want nothing, though I had nothing, 
and though my fellow-traveller was no richer than myself. 

I hope to be at Bristol soon, to offer you my services to 
pack up. You desired to have a Swiss servant, and I offer 
myself to you in that capacity ; for I shall be no more 
ashamed of serving you, as far as I am capable of doing it, 
than I am of wearing your livery. 

Two reasons (to say nothing of the pleasure of your 
company) engage me to go with you to Montpellier, — a de- 
sire to visit some poor Huguenots in the south of France ; 
and the need I have to recover a little French, before I go 
to converse with my compatriots. 

The priest at Madeley is going to open his mass-house, 
and I have declared war on that account last Sunday, and 
propose to strip the whore of Babylon, and expose her na- 
kedness to-morrow. All the Papists are in a great ferment, 
and they have held meetings to consult on the occasion. 
One of their bloody bullies came to "pick up," as he said, 
a quarrel with me ; and what would have been the conse- 
quence, had not I providentially had company with me, I 
know not. How far more their rage may be kindled to- 
morrow, I do not know ; but I question whether it will be 
right for me to leave the field in these circumstances. I 
forgot to mention, that two of our poor ignorant church- 
men are going to join the mass-house, which is the cause 
of my having taken up arms also. Farewell. 



246 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



CIV. — TO THE SAME. 

Trevecka, January 13, 1770. 
My Dear Friend, — I know not what to think of our jour- 
ney. My heart frequently recoils ; I have lost all hopes of 
being able to preach in French, and I think if I could they 
would not permit me. I become more stupid every day ; 
my memory fails me in a surprising manner. I am good 
for nothing but to go and bury myself in my parish. I 
have those touches of misanthropy which make solitude 
my element : judge, then, whether I am fit to go into the 
world. On the other hand, I fear that your journey is un- 
dertaken partly from complaisance to me, and in conse- 
quence of the engagement we made to go together. I 
acquit you of your promise ; and if your business does not 
really demand your presence in France, I beg you will not 
think of going there on my account. The bare idea of 
giving you trouble would make the journey ten times more 
disagreeable to me than the season of the year. 

The day after I wrote to you, I preached the sermons 
against Popery, which I had promised to my people ; and 
Mr. S — t — r called out several times in the church-yard, 
as the people went out of church, that there was not one 
word of truth in the whole of my discourse, and that he 
would prove it ; and told me that he would " produce a 
gentleman who should answer my sermon, and the pam- 
phlet I had distributed." I was therefore obliged to de- 
clare in the church, that I should not quit England, and 
was only going into Wales, from whence I would return 
soon, to reply to the answer of Mr. S — t — r and the priest, 
if they should offer any. I am thus obliged to return to 
Madeley, by my word so publicly pledged, as well as to 
raise a little money for my journey. Were it not for these 
circumstances, I believe I should pay you a visit at Bristol, 
notwithstanding my misanthropy. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



247 



The hamper which you mention, and for which I thank 
you, provided it be the last, arrived three days before my 
departure ; but not knowing what it was, nor for whom it 
was intended, I put it in my cellar without opening it. I 
want the living water rather than cider, and righteousness 
more than clothes. I fear, however, lest my unbelief 
should make me set aside the fountain whence it flows, as 
I did your hamper. Be that as it may, it is high time to 
open the treasures of divine mercy, and to seek in the heart 
of Jesus for the springs of love, righteousness, and life. 
The Lord give us grace so to seek that we may find, and 
be enabled to say, with the woman in the gospel, " I have 
found the piece of silver which I had lost !" 

If your affairs do not really call you to France, I will 
wait until Providence and grace shall open a way for me 
to the mountains of Switzerland, if I am ever to see them 
again. Adieu. Give yourself wholly to God. A divi- 
ded heart, like a divided kingdom, falls naturally, by its 
own gravity, either into darkness or into sin. My heart's 
desire is, that the love of Jesus may fill your soul, and 
that of vour unworthy and greatly obliged servant, 

J. F. 

CV. — TO MR. r. 

My Dear Friexd, — My delay has, I hope, driven you to 
the Lord, who is our Urim and Thummim, whose answers 
are infallibly true and just. Not so those of men ; never- 
theless, the Lord generally helps us by each other. May 
he therefore help you by these lines ! 

You got safe out of Egypt with gladness, and now you 
seem entangled in the wilderness ; but it may be needful 
for the trial of your faith, patience, self-denial, &c, that you 
should be left for awhile to feel your own barrenness, 
Therefore, hold fast what you have, till the Lord comes with 
more : equally avoiding discouraging thoughts and slight 



248 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



indifference. Retire more inwardly, and quietly listen to 
what the Lord will say concerning you ; refusing creature 
comforts, and acting faith in God your Creator, Christ your 
Redeemer, and the Spirit your Comforter. 

You have always a feeling which, properly attended to, 
would make you shout, " I am, I am out of hell !" I beg 
that this wonderful mercy may not appear cheap to you : 
if it does, you have got up, and must come down ; for it 
is proper that the Lord should bring down your spirit, and 
keep you upon crumbs, till you have learned to be thank- 
ful for them. 

At the first reading of your letter, these things struck 
me : 1 . You are wanting in the venture of faith : you do 
not give enough to that kind of implicit confidence in 
Christ which says, " I will trust in thee, though thou slay 
me." Now this is a lesson which you must learn. Sink 
or swim, a believer must learn to cast himself headlong 
into the boundless sea of divine truth and love. 2. You 
have not learned to hold fast what you have, and to be 
thankful for it till the Lord comes with more ; till he bap- 
tizes you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. 3. You do 
not make a proper use of the joy of hope, which, neverthe- 
less, is to be your strength till the Lord comes to his 
temple to make his abode there. Adieu. J. F. 

CVL— TO THE REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. LONDON. 

Madelet. May 28. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, — I thank you, though late, for 
the kind leave you gave me of trying to pipe where you 
sound and trumpet forth the name of our dear Redeemer, 
in Bristol. I ask you, my hearers there, and, above all, 
our gracious Lord, pardon for the wretched manner in which 
I performed, or rather spoiled, the glorious work. " His 
blood be upon us," and sprinkle our holy, or rather unholy, 
things ! If Mr. Winter is in London, I beg you would re- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 249 



peat my thanks to him for all his undeserved patience and 
kindness to me while at Bristol. 

I thank you, sir, for your letter to the vice-chancellor, 
Mr. Talbot, who read it, with a proper emphasis, to the 
archbishop of Canterbury, and treated us with the reading 
of it at our meeting of the clergy at Birmingham ; and I saw 
applause and satisfaction sitting upon every brow. God 
give his tenfold blessing to your labours from the pulpit 
and press ! How good is the Lord to give us opportunities 
to serve him with our pen when our lungs are disabled ! We 
need not be idle in so large a vineyard, so vast a field of action. 

I had lately a few lines from Lady Huntingdon, who 
mentions that Providence raises a master for her school 
from Suffolk, who promises very well. She desires he may 
be secured, if approved of. You know him, perhaps, sir ; 
and you are the best judge whether he is likely to answer. 
For my part, I am willing to put my smoking flax to the 
tapers of my brethren and fathers, when they endeavour to 
throw some light and order upon her ladyship's design ; but 
I feel my place should be among the scholars, rather than 
among the directors. 

Mr. Glascott acquitted himself as a faithful and able 
minister during his stay here. Thousands attended him in 
the next parish, where he nobly took the field. Neverthe- 
less, I see a curse of barrenness upon this neighbourhood, 
which makes me groan for a day of pentecost : God hasten 
it in his time ! You will please to remember, that you are 
a debtor to our barbarians, as well as to the Greeks of 
London. When you come, my pulpit will be honoured, 
greatly honoured, to hold you, if my church cannot hold 
your congregation. I am, reverend and dear sir, your un- 
worthy servant, 

J. Fletcher. 

Remember me in Christian love to Mrs. Whitefield, Mr. 

Kean, Mr, Hardv, Mr. Wright, and Joyce, &c. 

11* 



250 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

CVTI. — TO THE REV. DAVID SIMPSON, MACCLESFIELD. 

Madeley. Aug. 4, 1770. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, — I have sometimes preached hi 
licensed places, but have never been censured for it. Per- 
haps it is because my superiors in the church think me 
not worth their notice, and despair of shackling me with 
their unevangelical regularity. If the bishop were to take 
me to task about this piece of irregularity, I would ob- 
serve, — 1. That the canons of men cannot overthrow the 
canons of God. " Preach the word. Be instant in season 
and out of season. The time cometh, and now is, when the 
true worshippers shall worship," particularly and exclusive- 
ly of all other places, neither on mount Gerizim, nor upon 
mount Zion ; but they shall worship everywhere in spirit 
and in truth. The contrary canons are Jewish, and sub- 
versive of the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free ; 
yea, contrary to the right of churchmen, which must,, at 
least, include the privileges of dissenters. 2. Before the 
bishop shackled me with canons, he charged me to " look 
for Christ's lost sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his 
children who are in the midst of this wicked world ;" and 
these sheep, &c., I will try to gather whenever I meet them. 
We have a general canon : " While we have time, let us do 
good to all men, and especially to them who are of the 
household of faith. Go into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature " willing to hear it. A justice of 
peace would once prosecute me upon the conventicle act ; 
but when it came to the point, he durst not do it. Some 
of my parishioners went and complained to the bishop about 
my conventicles. I wrote to the registrar, that I hoped his 
lordship, who had given me the above-mentioned charge 
at my ordination, would not be against my following it ; that 
I thought it hard the tipplers should have twenty or thirty 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS 



251 



tippling-houses, the dissenters three or four, the papists 
one, meeting-house in my parish, undisturbed, and that I 
should be disturbed, because I would not have God's word 
confined to one house ; — and that, with respect to the ca= 
nons. it would be absurd to put them in force against 
preaching clergymen, when they were set aside with re- 
spect to catechising, tippling, gaming, and carding clergy- 
men ; — that I did not desire his lordship to patronize me, 
in a special manner, in the use of my Christian liberty ; but 
that I hoped he would connive at it. Whether they re- 
ceived my letter or not, I do not know : but they never 
attempted to molest me. As I was speaking on the head 
of preaching in licensed places, or dissenting meeting- 
houses, with the late Mr. Whitefield. he told me, that when 
a minister of the Church of England did read the common- 
prayer, there was no law against him ; and that the church 
clergy do so very frequently in America. 

The questions of your letter are most of them out of mv 
sphere ; but they may be properly answered by a worthy 
servant of Christ, the Rev. John Ryland, minister of the 
new chapel at Birmingham, whose case is somewhat simi- 
lar to yours. This chapel was built upon the estate of a 
serious lady, who got it consecrated, and presented him. I 
design to send him your letter, and desire him to give you 
and your worthy patron, (to whom I beg you would present 
my Christian respects,) all the intelligence he can. Only be 
modestly and steadily bold for God, and your enemies will 
be more afraid of you than you of them ; or, if God will 
honour you with the badge of persecution, he will comfort 
and bless you the more for it. May the God of all grace and 
power be with you more and more ! Ask it, dear sir, for 
Your brother and servant in Christ, 

J. Fletcher. 



252 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



CVIII. — TO MR. HENRY BROOKE. 

Madeley. Sept 6, 1772. 
Dear Sir, — If to do were as present with me as to wish, 
you would have been half ruined in the postage of letters. 
I cannot tell you how often I have thought of thanking you 
for your kind letter. My controversy made me put it off 
some time, and when I was going one day to answer you, a 
clergyman called upon me, read your letter, said you were 
a sensible author, and if I would let him have it, he would 
let me have your "Fool of Quality," of which I had never 
heard. I forgot to take your direction, and my backward- 
ness to writing had a very good excuse to indulge itself. 
However, it ceases now : after some months my friend has 
sent me back your unexpected but welcome favour ; I 
know in what street you live. A thousand thanks for it ; 
and a thousand more for the amiable character of your 
Harry, my kind, my new correspondent. May this sheet 
convey them warm from my heart to yours ; and thence 
may they return like a thousand drops into that immense 
ocean of goodness, truth, love, and delight, whence come 
all the streams which gladden the universe, and ravish the 
city of God. 

I thankfully accept the pleasure, profit, and honour of 
your correspondence. But I must not deceive you. I have 
not yet learned the blessed precept of our Lord, in respect 
of writing and receiving letters. I still find it more blessed 
to receive than to give ; and until I have got out of that 
selfishness, never depend on a letter from me till you see 
it ; and be persuaded, nevertheless, that one from you will 
always be welcome. 

I see by your works that you love truth, and that you 
will force your way through all the barriers of prejudice to 
embrace it in its meanest dress . That makes me love you. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



253 



I hope to improve by your example and your lessons. One 
thing I want truly to learn, that is. that creatures and visible 
things are but shadows, and that God is God, Jehovah, the 
true eternal substance. To live practically in this truth, 
is to live in the suburbs of heaven. Really to believe, that 
in God we live, move, and have our being, is to find and 
enjoy the root of our existence : it is to slide from self into 
our original principle, from the carnal into the spiritual, 
from the visible into the invisible, from time into eternity. 
Give me, at your leisure, some directions how to cease from 
busying myself about the husks of things, and how I shall 
break through the shell till I come to the kernel of resur- 
rection, life, and power, that lies hid from the unbeliever's 
sight. You mention " a short sketch of your path already 
passed, and of your present feelings." I believe it will be 
profitable to me for instruction and reproof : therefore I 
shall gladly accept it. 

Pray, my dear sir, about feelings : — Are you possessed 
of all the feelings of your Clinton, Clement, and Harry ? 
Are they natural to you ? I mean previous to what we 
generally call "conversion." I have often thought that 
some of the feelings you describe depend a good deal upon 
the fineness of the nerves and bodily organs ; and, as I am 
rather of a stoic turn, I have sometimes comforted myself 
in thinking- that mv want of feeling might, in some degree, 
proceed from the dulness of Swiss nerves. If I am not mis- 
taken, Providence directs me to you to have this import- 
ant question solved. May not some persons have as much 
true faith, love, humanity, and pity, as others who are ten 
times more affected, at least for a season ? And what di- 
rections would you give to a Christian stoic ? if these two 
ideas are not absolutely incompatible. My stoicism helps 
me, I think, to weather out a storm of displeasure which 
my little pamphlets have raised against me. You see, I at 
once consult you as an old friend and spiritual casuist ; nor 



254 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



know I how to testify better to you how unreservedly I 
begin to be, my very dear friend, yours in the Lord,* 

J. F. 

CIX.— TO ME. VAUGHAfl. 

Madeley, Feb. 11, 1773. 
My very Dear Friend, — Your kind letter I received in 
the beginning of the week, and your kind present at the 
end of it. For both I heartily thank you. Nevertheless, 
I could wish it were your last present ; for I find it more 
blessed to give than to receive ; and in point of the good 
things of this life, my body does not want much, and I can 
do with what is more common and cheap than the rarities 
you ply me with. 

Your bounty upon bounty reminds me of the repeated 
mercies of our God. They follow one another as wave does 
wave at sea ; and all to waft us to the pleasing shore of 
confidence and gratitude, where we can not only cast anchor 
near, but calmly stand on the Rock of ages, and defy the 
rage of tempests. But you complain you are not there : 
billows of temptation drive you from the haven, where you 
would be, and you cry out still, " wretched man ! who 
shall deliver me?" 

Here I would ask, Are you willing, really willing, to be 
delivered ? Is your sin, is the prevalence of temptation, a 
burden too heavy for you to bear ? If it is, if your com- 
plaint is not a kind of religious compliment, be of good 
cheer, only believe. Look up ; for your redemption draws 
near. He is near that delivers, that justifies, that sancti- 
fies you. Cast your soul upon him : an act of faith will 
help you to a lift ; but one act of faith will not do — faith 
must be our life, I mean in connexion with its grand object. 

* Mr. Fletcher, when he wrote the above, mistook Mr. Henry 
Brooke, junior, for Mr. Henry Brooke, senior, the author of the 
Fool of Quality. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



255 



You cannot live by one breath ; you must breathe on, and 
draw the electric, vital fire into your lungs together with 
the air. So you must believe, and draw the divine power, 
and the fire of Jesus's love, together with the truth of the 
gospel, which is the blessed element in which believers five. 

My kind Christian love to Mrs. Vaughan. Tell her I am 
filled with joy in thinking, that though we no more serve 
the same earthly master, yet we still serve the same 
heavenly one, who will ere long admit us to sit with Abra- 
ham himself, if we hold fast our confidence to the end. 

Beware of the world. If you have losses, be not cast 
down, nor root in the earth with more might and main to 
repair them. If prosperity smile upon you, you are in 
double danger. Think, my friend, that earthly prosperity 
is like a coloured cloud, which passes away, and is soon 
lost in the shades of night and death. Beware of hurry. 
Martha, Martha, one thing is needful. Choose it, stand to 
your choice, and the good part shall not be taken from you 
by sickness or death God bless you and yours with all 
that makes for his glory and your peace ! 

I am, my dear friend, yours, &c, 

J. F. 

CX. — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Made ley, Sept. 21, 1773. 
My very Dear Friend, — I do not hear from my brother : 
my views of a journey abroad continue the same. I have 
considered what you say about the translation of my 
Appeal : and I think I might from it take the hint, and do 
it some day ; nay, I tried to turn a paragraph or two the 
day after I received your letter, but found it would be a 
difficult if not an impossible work for me. I am sure I could 
not do it abroad. On a journey I am just like a cask of 
wine : I am good for nothing till I have some time to settle. 
What you say about Mr. Wesley adds weight to your 



256 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

kind arguments : but supposing he or the people did not 
alter his mind, this would not sufficiently turn the scale in 
point of conscience, though it is already turned in point of 
affection. My spiritual circumstances are what I must look 
at. I am brought to a point : like a woman with child, I 
must have a deliverance into the liberty of a higher dispen- 
sation, and I tremble lest outward things should hurt me. 
The multiplicity of objects, circumstances, and avocations, 
which attend travelling, is as little suited to my case, as to 
that of a woman with child. I think that, all things con- 
sidered, I should sin against my conscience in going, unless 
I had a call from necessity, or from clearer providences. 
Should Mr. Wesley find a desire of accompanying you, I 
think you might set out with a single eye, according to your 
light and faith ; and I trust the journey would be of service 
to both, and, in that case, my heart shall go along with you. 
If you go, pray find out, and converse with the Convul- 
sionaries. My request is, that you may see your way plain, 
be fully persuaded in your own mind, and be led and covered 
by the cloud of divine protection. 

I thank you for having dared to speak a word for me at 
Worcester ; but the stream of prejudice ran too high for you 
to stop it : it was drowning yourself without saving your 
friend. It is good to know when to yield. 

My last Check will be as much in behalf of free grace as 
of holiness. So I hope, upon that plan, all the candid and 
moderate will be able to shake hands. It will be of a re- 
conciling nature ; and I call it " An Equal Check to Phari- 
saism and Antinomianism." 

I see life so short, and that time passes away with such 
rapidity, that I should be very glad to spend it in solemn 
prayer ; but it is necessary that a man should have some 
exterior occupation. The chief thing is to employ our- 
selves profitably. My throat is not formed for the labours 
of preaching : when I have preached three or four times 



PASTORAL AXD FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



257 



together, it inflames and fills up ; and the efforts which I 
am then obliged to make in speaking heat my blood. 
Thus I am by nature, as well as by the circumstances I am 
in, obliged to employ my time in writing a little. that I 
-may be enabled to do it to the glory of God ! Let us love 
this good God, " who hath so loved the world, that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that we might not perish, but 
have everlasting life." How sweet is it, on our knees, to 
receive this Jesus, this heavenly gift, and to offer our 
praises and thanks to our heavenly Father ! The Lord 
teaches me four lessons : the first is, to be thankful that I 
am not in hell ; the second, to become nothing before him ; 
the third, to receive the gift of God, — the person of Jesus ; 
and the fourth is, to feel my want of the Spirit of Jesus, 
and to wait for it. These four lessons are very deep. O 
when shall I have learned them ! Let us go together to 
the school of Jesus, and learn to be meek and lowly in 
heart. Adieu. 

♦ J. F. 

CXI.— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Feb. 6, 1774, 
My Dear Friend, — In the present circumstances, it was a 
great piece of condescension in dear Lady Huntingdon to 
be willing to see me privately ; but for her to permit me to 
wait upon her openly, denotes such generosity, such cour- 
age, and a mind so much superior to the narrowness that 
clogs the charity of most professors, that it would have 
amazed me, if everything that is noble and magnanimous 
were not to be expected from her ladyship. It is well for 
her that spirits are imprisoned in flesh and blood, or I 
might by this time (and it is but an hour since I received 
your letter) have troubled her ten times with my apparition, 
to wish her joy of being above the dangerous snare of pro- 
fessors, — the smiles and frowns of the religious world ; and 



258 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



to thank her a thousand times for not being ashamed of her 
old servant, and for cordially forgiving him all that is past, 
upon the score of the Lord's love, and of ray honest meaning. 

But though mv mind has travelled so fast to Bath on 
reading your letter, yet an embargo is laid upon my body : 
" I must not go yet." I am the more inclined to take 
the hint for two reasons. I -will tell you all my heart 
about it. The more I see her ladyship's generosity, and 
admire the faithfulness of the friendship that she has for 
many years honoured me with, the more I ought to take 
care not to bring burdens upon her. It might lessen her 
influence with those she is connected with, and might 
grieve some of her friends, who possibly would look upon 
her condescension as an affront to them. This is the first 
reason. The second respects myself. I must follow my 
light. A necessity is laid upon me to clear my conscience 
with respect to the Antinomian world, and to point out 
the stumbling-block that keeps many serious people from 
embracing the real doctrmes of free grace. I cannot 
do this without advancing some truths, which I know her 
ladyship receives as well as myself, but which, by my 
manner of unfolding them, will, at first sight, appear dread- 
ful touches to the gospel of the day. I am just sending 
to the press, "A Scriptural Essay upon the Astonishing 
Rewardableness of the Works of Faith."' Though it con- 
sists only of plain Scriptures, and plain arguments, without 
anything personal, I think it will raise more dust of pre- 
judice against me than my preceding publications. With 
respect to myself, I do not mind it : but I am bound in 
love to mind it with respect to her ladyship. My respect 
to her ladyship, therefore, together with the preceding rea- 
son, determine me to defer paying my respects personally 
to her, till after the publication of my Essay and Scripture 
Scales ; and if she does not then revoke the kind leave she 
gives me, I shall most gladly make the best of my way to 



PASTORAL ANB FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



259 



assure her in person, as I do now by this indirect means, 
that I am, and shall forever be, her dutiful servant, in what 
appears to me the plain gospel of our common Lord. 

The smartness of the letter-writer in the Westminster 
Journal, and his bringing college charges against me, made 
me think he was probably the Author of The Whip for 
Pelagian Methodists. Well, after all, St. John's love will 
carry the day. If I have all faith, and have not that,, I 
am nothing. But when you plead for love, you plead for 
the chief work I contend for : so you are almost as deep 
in the mud as I am in the mire. With love to yourself, 
and dutiful love to our noble friend, 

I am, &C., J. F. 

CXIL— TO THE SAME. 

Made let. March 27, 1774. 
My Dear Sir, — I think I wrote my last two days before I 
received your bounty — a large hogshead of rice and two 
cheeses. Accept the thanks of our poor and mine on the 
occasion. I distributed it on Shrove Tuesday ; and preached 
to a numerous congregation on, " Seek ye first the kingdom 
of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be 
added unto you." May you and I find the bread we 
scattered that dav, though it should not be till after many 
days. We prayed for our benefactor, that God would 
give him a hundredfold in this life, and eternal life where 
life eternal will be no burden. I saw then what I have not 
often seen on such occasions, gladness without the appear- 
ance of envying or grudging. 

How kind is my lady to offer to interpose, and to wipe 
off the aspersions of my London accusers ! I had before 
sent my reply, which was only a plain narrative of two 
facts, upon which it appeared to me the capital charges 
were founded, together with some gentle expostulations, 
which, I hope, have had the desired effect. Give my duty 



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PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



to the dear elect lady, and thank her a thousand times for 
this new addition to all her former favours, till I have an 
opportunity of doing it in person. 

I get very slowly out of the mire of my controversy ; 
and yet I hope to get over it, if God spares my life, in two 
or three pieces more. Since I wrote last, I have added to 
my Equal Check, a piece which I call "An Essay on 
Truth ; or, a Rational Vindication of the Doctrine of Salva- 
tion by Faith," which I have taken the liberty to dedicate 
to Lady Huntingdon, to have an opportunity of clearing 
her ladyship from the charge of Antinomianism. I have 
taken this step in the simplicity of my heart ; and as due 
from me, in my circumstances, to the character of her 
ladyship. Mr. H — t — n called some time after the letter 
was printed, and told me, "It will not be well taken." I 
hope better ; but be it as it will, I shall have the satisfac- 
tion of having meant well. 

I have just spirit enough to enjoy my solitude, and to 
bless God that I am out of the hurry of the world, even 
the spiritual world. I tarry gladly in my Jerusalem, till 
the kingdom of God comes with power ; till then, it mat- 
ters not where I am : only as my chief call is here, here I 
gladly stay, till God fits me for the pulpit or the grave. I 
still spend my mornings in scribbling. Though I grudge 
so much time in writing, yet a man must do something ; and 
I may as well investigate truth as do anything else, except 
solemn prayer and visiting my flock. I shall be glad to 
have done with my present avocation, that I may give my- 
self up more to those two things. 

O how life goes ! I walked, now I gallop into eternity. 
The bowl of life goes rapidly down the steep hill of time. 
Let us be wise : embrace we Jesus and the resurrection : 
let us trim our lamps, and give ourselves afresh to Him 
that bought us, till we can do it without reserve. Adieu. 

J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



261 



CXIIL— TO THE KEY. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Madeley, Jan., 1775. 
My very Dear Sir, — I thank you for your letter, and your 
very friendly postscript to your brother's. I am glad you 
did not altogether disapprove my Essay upon Truth. The 
letter, I grant, profiteth but little, until the Spirit animates 
it. I had, some weeks ago, one of these touches, which 
realize, or, rather, spiritualize the letter ; and it convinced 
me more than ever, that what I say in that tract of the 
Spirit, and of faith, is truth. 

I am also persuaded, that the faith and spirit which 
belong to perfect Christianity are at a very low ebb, even 
among believers. When the Son of man comet h to set up 
his kingdom, shall he find Christian faith upon the earth ? 
Yes ; but, I fear, as little as he found of Jewish faith when 
he came in the flesh. 

I believe you cannot rest either with the easy Antino- 
mian, or the busy Pharisee. You and I have nothing to do 
but to die to all that is of sinful nature, and to pray for 
the power of an endless life. God make us faithful to our 
convictions, and keep us from the snares of outward things. 
You are in danger from music, children, poetry ; and I 
from speculation, controversy, sloth, &c, (fee. Let us 
watch against the deceit-fulness of self and sin in all their 
appearances. 

What power of the Spirit do you find among the be- 
lievers in London? what openings of the kingdom? Is 
the well springing up in many hearts ? Are many souls 
dissatisfied, and looking for the kingdom of God in power ? 
Watchman, what of the night ? — what of the day ? — what 
of the dawn? 

I feel the force of what you say in your last about the 
danger of so encouraging the inferior dispensation as to 



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PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



make people rest short of the faith which belongs to perfect 
Christianity. I have tried to obviate it in some parts of the 
Equal Check, and hope to do it more effectually in my reply 
to Mr. Hill's Creed for Perfectionists. Probably, I shall 
get nothing by my polemic labours but loss of friends, and 
charges of " novel chimeras " on both sides. I expect a 
letter from you on the subject. Write with openness, and 
do not fear to discourage me by speaking your disapproba- 
tion of what you dislike. My aim is to be found at the 
feet of all, bearing and forbearing, until truth and love 
bring better days. 

I am, reverend and dear sir, your most affectionate 
brother and son in the gospel. J. F. 

CXIV.— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Dec. 4, 1775. 
My very Dear Brother, — I see the end of my contro- 
versial race ; and I have such courage to run it out, that I 
think it my bound en duty to run and strike my blow, and 
fire my gun before the water of discouragement has quite 
wetted the gunpowder of my activity. This makes me 
seem to neglect my dearest correspondents. 

Old age comes faster upon me than upon you. I am 
already so gray-headed, that I wrote to my brother to 
know if I am not fifty-six instead of forty -six. The wheel 
of time moves so rapidly that I seem to be in a new 
element ; and yet, praised be God, my strength is pre- 
served far better than I could expect. I came home last 
night at eleven o'clock tolerably well, after reading prayers 
and preaching twice, and giving the sacrament in my own 
church, and preaching again, and meeting a few people in 
society at the next market-town. 

The Lord is wonderfully gracious to me ; and, what is 
more to me than many favours, he helps me to see his 



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PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 263 

mercies in a clearer light. In years past, I did not dare 
to be thankful for mercies which now make me shout for 
joy. I had been taught to call them u common mercies ;" 
and I made as little of them as apostates do of the blood 
of Christ when they call it " a common thing.' ' But now 
the veil begins to rend, and I invite you, and all the world, 
to praise God for his patience, truth, and loving-kindness, 
which have followed me all my days, and prevented me, 
not only in the night-watches, but in the past ages of eter- 
nity. how I hate the delusion which has robbed me of 
so many comforts ! Farewell. 

I am, &c, J. F. 

CXV. — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Madeley, Feb. 3, 1776. 
My very Dear Friend, — Upon the news of your illness by 

Mr. G , I and many more helped to pray that you 

might be supported under your pressures, and that they 
might yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. We 
shall now turn our prayers into praises for your happy re- 
covery, and for the support the Lord has granted you 
under your trial. May it now appear that you imitate 
David, who said, "It was good for me that I was afflicted." 
Let people say what they will, there are lessons which we 
can never learn but under the cross : we must suffer with 
Christ, if we will be glorified with him. I hope you will 
take care that it may not be said of you, as it was of He- 
zekiah, " He rendered not unto the Lord according to the 
benefit of his recovery." Let us rather say, " What shall 
I render unto the Lord for all his benefits ?" And may we 
see the propriety and profit of rendering him our bodies 
and our souls ; the sacrifices of humble, praising, obedient 
love, and warm, active, cheerful thanksgiving. 

A young clergyman offers to assist me : if he does, I 
may make an excursion somewhere this spring : where it 



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PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



will be I do not know. It may be into eternity, for I dare 
not depend upon to-morrow ; but should it be your way, I 
shall inform you of a variety of family trials, which the 
Lord has sent me, — all for good, to break my will in every 
possible respect. 

My little political piece is published in London. You 
thank me for it beforehand : I believe it is the only thanks 
I shall have. It is well you sent them before you read the 
book; and yet, whatever contempt it brings upon me, I 
still think I have written the truth. If you did read my 
publications, I would beg you to cast a look upon that, 
and reprove what appears to you amiss ; for if I have been 
wrong in writing, I hope I shall not be so excessively 
wrong as not to be thankful for any reproof candidly 
levelled at what I have written. I prepare myself to be 
like my Lord, in my little measure. I mean to be 
" despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and 
acquainted with griefs ;" most reviled for what I mean best. 
The Lord strengthen you in body and soul to do and suffer 
his will. Adieu. J. F. 

CXVI. — TO MR. VAUGHAN. 

Madeley, March 21, 1776. 
Dear Sir, — Your barrel of cider came safe as to the out- 
side, and, I hope, as to the inside too. How could you 
think to make me such a present ? But I must rather thank 
you for your love and generosity, than scold you for your 
excessive profusion. You should have stayed at least till 
cider was ten shillings a hogshead ; but in such a year as 
this — however, the Lord reward you, and return it to you 
in streams of living water, and plenty of the wine of his 
kingdom ! 

I thought I should soon have done with controversy ; 
but now I give up the hope of having done with it before 
I die. There are three sorts of people I must continually 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



265 



attack, or defend myself against — Gallios, Pharisees, and 
Antinomians. I hope I shall die in this harness, fighting 
against some of them. I do not, however, forget, that the 
Gallio, the Simon, and the Nicholas within are far more 
dangerous to me than those without. In my own heart, 
that immense field, I must first fight the Lord's battles and 
my own. Help me here ; join me in this field. All Chris- 
tians are here militia-men, if they are not professed soldiers. 
0, my friend, I need wisdom, meekness of wisdom : a heart 
full of it is better than all your cider-vault full of the most 
generous liquors ; and it is in Christ for us. go, and ask 
for you and me, and I shall ask for me and you. What a 
mercy is it that our Lord bears stock ! May we not be 
ashamed or afraid to come, and beg every moment for wine 
and milk, grace and wisdom. 

Beware, my friend, of the world : let not its cares nor 
the deceitfulness of its riches keep or draw you from Jesus. 
Before you handle the bird-lime, be sure to dip your heart 
and hand in the oil of grace. Time flies. Years of plenty 
and of scarcity, of peace and war, disappear before the eter- 
nity to which we are all hastening. May we see now the 
winged despatch of time as we shall see it in a dying hour ; 
and by coming to, and abiding in Christ, our fortress and 
city of refuge, may we be enabled to bid defiance to our 
last enemy. Christ has fully overcome him ; and by the 
victory of the Head, the living members cannot but be fully 
victorious. 

Remember me kindly to Mrs. Vaughan. That the Lord 
would abundantly bless you, both in your souls, bodies, con- 
cerns, and children, is the sincere wish of, dear sir, 

Your affectionate friend, J. F. 

12 



266 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



CXVII. — TO THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Madeley, May 11, 1776. 

My Dear Brother, — What are you doing in London ? Are 
you ripening as fast for the grave as I am ? — How should 
we lay out every moment for God ! I have had for some 
days the symptoms of an inward consumptive decay, spit- 
ting blood, &c. Thank God, I look at our last enemy with 
great calmness. I hope, however, that the Lord will spare 
me to publish my end of the controversy, which is, "A 
Double Dissertation upon the Doctrines of Grace and Jus- 
tice." This piece will, I flatter myself, reconcile all the 
candid Calvinists and candid Arminians, and be a means of 
pointing out the way in which peace and harmony might 
be restored to the Church. 

I still look for an outpouring of the Spirit, inwardly and 
outwardly. Should I die before that great day, I shall 
have the consolation to see it from afar, like Abraham and 
the Baptist, and to point it out to those who shall live 
when God does this. 

Thank God, I enjoy uninterrupted peace in the midst of 
my trials, which are sometimes not a few. Joy also I pos- 
sess ; but I look for a joy of a superior nature. The Lord 
bestow it when and how he pleaseth ! I thank God I feel 
myself in a good degree dead to praise and dispraise. I 
hope, at least, that it is so ; because I do not feel that the 
one lifts me up, or that the other dejects me. I want to 
see a pentecost Christian Church ; and if it is not to be 
seen at this time upon earth, I am willing to go and see 
that glorious wonder in heaven. How is it with you? Are 
you ready to seize the crown in the name of the Redeemer 
reigning in your heart ? We run a race toward the grave. 
John is likely to outrun you, unless you have a swift foot. 
The Lord grant we may sink deeper into the Redeemer's 



PASTORAL ANJJ FAMILIAR LETTERS. 267 



grave, and there live and die, and gently glide into our 
own. 

I had lately a letter from one of the preachers, who finds 
great fault with me for having published, in my book on 
Perfection, your hymn, called " The Last Wish." He calls 
it dangerous mysticism. My private thoughts are, that the 
truth lies between driving Methodism and still mysticism. 
What think you? Read the addresses which I have added 
to that piece, and tell me your thoughts. 

Let us pray that God would renew our youth as that of 
the eagle, that we may bear fruit in our old age. The Lord 
strengthen you to the last ! I hope I shall see you before 
my death : if not, let us rejoice at the thought of meeting 
in heaven. Give my kind love to Mrs. Wesley, to my god- 
daughter, and to her brothers, who all, I hope, remember 
their Creator in the days of their youth. Adieu. 

I am, &g., J. F. 

CXVIII. — TO MR. CHARLES PERRONET. 

Bristol, July 12. 1776. 
My very Dear Brother, — Having an opportunity to write 
a line to you by a friend, whom I meet daily at the Wells, 
I gladly embrace it to thank you for your last favour. The 
Lord keeps me hanging by a thread : he weighs me in the 
balance for life and death ; I trust him for the choice. He 
knows, far better than I, what is best ; and I leave all to 
his unerring wisdom. I am calm, and wait, with submis- 
sion, what the Lord will say concerning me. I wait to be 
baptized into all his fulness, and trust the word, "the word 
of his grace." Afflictions and shakes may be a ploughing 
necessary to make way for the heavenly seed, and to pre- 
pare me to bring forth some fruit in life and in death. 
Whether it be in the former or in the latter, I hope I shall 
live and die the object of your love, and the subject of your 



268 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



prayers, as you are of the cordial affection and good wishes 
of, my very dear friend, your devoted brother and obliged 
companion in tribulation, 

J. F. 

CXIX. — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Madeley. Aug. 13, 1776. 
My Dear Friend, — My breast is always, very weak ; 
but, if it please God, it will in time recover strength. Mr. 
Greaves will take all the duty upon himself ; and I shall 
continue to take rest, exercise, and the food which was re- 
commended to me. The Lord grant me grace to repose 
mvself on Christ, to exercise mvself in charitv, and to feed 
upon the bread of life which God has given us in Jesus 
Christ. We all need this spiritual regimen : may we be 
enabled to observe it as strictly as we do the bodily regimen 
of our earthly physicians ! 

I thank you, my dear friend, for all your favours, and 
all your attention to me. Your more than fraternal love 
covers me with confusion, and fills me with acknowledof- 
ment. What return shall I make ? I will drink the cup of 
thanksgiving, and I will bless the name of the Lord; I 
will thank my dear friend ; and wish him all the temporal 
blessings he conferred upon me, and all those spiritual ones 
which were not in his power to bestow. Live in health, — 
live piously, live content, live in Christ, — live for eternity, 
live to make your wife, your children, your servants, your 
neighbours happy, as far as their happiness depends on you ; 
and may the God of all grace give back a hundredfold to 
you and your dear wife all the kindnesses with which you 
have loaded me ! The Lord make you happy as a father, a 
master, and a Christian ! The God of peace be with you 
without interruption ! Give me some account of your 
health, and I will inform you of the alterations which take 
place in that of 

Your obedient servant and devoted friend, J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



269 



CXX. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Aug. 24, 1776. 
My Dear Friend, — I have received the news of your loss, 
and of the gain of your younger daughter. She has en- 
tered into port, and has left you on a tempestuous sea with 
Fanny. The account of her death did not surprise me : 
when you received that of her illness, this passage came 
strongly to my mind, " Two shall be in one house : one 
shall be taken, and the other left." I recommend to Mrs. 
Ireland the resignation of David when he lost his son ; and 
do you give her the example. The day of death is prefer- 
able to that of our birth : with respect to infants, the 
maxim of Solomon is indubitable. 0, what an honour is it 
to be the father and mother of a little cherub, who hovers 
round the throne of God in heavenly glory ! Comfort 
yourselves, and rejoice that the Lord has taken one, and 
left the other. 

R — q — t dead and buried! The jolly man who last 
summer shook his head at me as at a dying man ! How 
frail are we ! God help us to live to-day ! To-morrow is 
the fool's day. I am glad you encourage my hopes of 
finding some at Bristol who will tarry, with one accord, for 
a pentecostal day of the Son of man. I meet with some, I 
hope, that feel a want of it ; but my constant removals 
prevent my enjoying the benefit of waiting together in one 
place. When God shall be about to take away the re- 
proach of his people, he will work a double miracle : his 
grace will prepare their hearts, and his providence their 
outward circumstances. 

I have not at present the least idea that I am called to 
quit my post here. I see no probability of being useful 
in Switzerland. My call is here, I am sure of it : if then 
I undertook the journey, it would be merely to accompany 
you. I dare not gratify friendship by taking such a step ; 



270 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

and so much the less, as I have no faith in the prescrip- 
tions of your physician ; and I think that if health be bet- 
ter for us than sickness, we may enjoy it as well here as 
in France or Italy. If sickness be best for us. why shun 
it ? Everything is good when it comes from God. Noth- 
ing but a baptism of fire, and the most evident openings of 
Providence, can engage me in such a journey. If you 
believe that Providence calls you to make it, go, and pass 
the winter with Mr. Lee : the bare idea that the journey 
will do you good, may, by God's blessing, be of service to 
you. If I reject your obliging offer to procure me a sub- 
stitute, accuse not my friendship to you, but attribute it to 
my fear of taking a false step, of quitting my post without 
command, and of engaging in a warfare to which the 
Lord does not call me. My refusal wounds my friend- 
ship for you ; but I hope it will not prevent your being 
persuaded that, 

I am, with lively gratitude, altogether yours in Jesus 
Christ. Adieu. 

J. F. 

CXXI. — TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, Sept. 7, 1776. 
SIy very Dear Friend, — I thank you for your kind letter, 
and am glad you will continue to oppose bigotry, though I 
would not have you bring an old house about your ears, for 
the sake of so insignificant a creature as I am. As many 
who espouse the sentiments of my opponents condemn me 
without having heard me out, and upon the dreadful 
charges which they hear brought against me, they are not 
much to blame ; for what good man can think well of a 
blasphemer, and an enemy to the gospel ? I hope, for my 
part, to do what shall be in my power to remove preju- 
dices, and trust to gain some resignation and patience by 
what I shall not be able to remove, God is my witness, 



PASTORAL AXD FAMILIAR LETTERS 



271 



that I honour and love them, though I will never part with 
my liberty of exposing error wherever I shall detect it. 
Why might I not endeavour to take off a spot from a 
friend's sleeve, without running the risk of losing his friend- 
ship, and incurring his ill-will ? 

My health is, I thank God, better than when I wrote 
last. I have not yet preached, rather from a sense of my 
duty to my friends, and high thoughts of Mr. Greaves 's 
labours, (who does the work of an evangelist to better 
purpose than I,) than to spare myself ; for, if I am not 
mistaken, I am as able to do my work now, as I was a 
year ago. 

A fortnight ago, I paid a visit to West Bromwich. I 
ran away from the kindness of my parishioners, who 
oppressed me with tokens of their love. To me there is 
nothing so extremely trying as excessive kindness. I am 
of the king's mind, when the people showed their love to 
him on his journey to Portsmouth : "I can bear," he said, 
"the hissings of a London mob; but these shouts of joy 
are too much for me." You, my dear friend, Mrs. Ireland, 
Mrs. Norman, and all your family, have put me to that 
severe trial, to which all trials caused by the hard words 
that have been spoken of me are nothing. I return you 
all my warmest thanks, and pray that, excess excepted, you 
may all meet, in the day of your weakness, as kind nurses 
and benefactors as you have proved to me. 

At our age a recovery can be but a short reprieve : let 
us, then, give up ourselves daily to the Lord, as people 
who have no confidence in the flesh, and do not trust to 
to-morrow. I find my weakness, unprofitableness, and 
wretchedness daily more and more : and the more I find 
them, the more help I have to sink into self-abhorrence. 
Nor do I despair to sink one day so in it as to die to self, 
and revive in my God. Farewell. 

J. F. 



272 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



CXXII. — TO THE EEV. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Madelet, Sept, 15, 1776. 
My very Dear Brother, — I lately consulted a pious gen- 
tleman near Lichfield, famous for his skill in the disorders 
of the breast. He assured me I am in no immediate dan- 
ger of a consumption of the lungs ; and that my disorder is 
upon the nerves, in consequence of too much close thinking. 
He permitted me to write and preach in moderation, and 
gave me medicines which, I think, are of service in taking 
off my feverish heats. My spitting of blood is stopped, 
and I may yet be spared to travel with you as an invalid. 

If God adds one inch to my span, I see my calling. I 
desire to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified, 
revealed in the Spirit. I long to feel the utmost power 
of the Spirit's dispensation ; and I will endeavour to bear 
my testimony to the glory of that dispensation, both with 
my pen and tongue. Some of our injudicious or inatten- 
tive friends will probably charge me with novelty for it : 
but, be that as it will, let us meekly stand for the truth as 
it is in Jesus, and trust the Lord for everything. I thank 
God, I feel so dead to popular applause, that I trust I 
should not be afraid to maintain a truth against all the 
world ; and yet I dread to dissent from any child of God, 
and feel ready to condescend to every one. O what depths 
of humble love and what heights of gospel truth do I some- 
times see ! I want to sink into the former, and rise into the 
latter. Help me by your example, letters, and prayers; 
and let us, after our forty years' abode in the wilderness 
with Moses and Joshua, break forth after our Joshua into 
the Canaan of pure love. I am, <fcc, 

J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



273 



CXXIII. — TO THE KEV. VINCENT PEKRONET. 

Newington, Jan. 19, 1777. 
Dear Father in Christ, — I beg you would accept my 
multiplied thanks for your repeated favours. You have 
twice entertained me, a worthless stranger ; and, not yet 
tired of the burden, you kindly invite me, weak and trouble- 
some as I am, to share in the comforts of your house and 
family. Kind Providence leaves me no room at present to 
hang a third burden upon you. The good air and accom- 
modations here, and the nearness to a variety of helps, 
joined to the kindness of my friends, and the weakness of 
my body, forbid me to remove at present. God reward 
your labour of love and fatherly offers ! Should the Lord 
raise me, I shall be better able to reap the benefit of your 
instructions : a pleasure which I promise myself some time, 
if the Lord pleases. 

I have of late thought much upon a method of reconcil- 
ing the Calvinists and Arminians. I have seen some Cal- 
vinian ministers who seem inclined to a plan of pacification. 
I wish I had strength enough to draw the sketch of it for 
your improvement. I think the thing is by no means im- 
practicable, if we would but look one another in the face, 
and fall together at the feet of Him who makes men to be 
of one mind in one house, and made once all believers to 
be of one soul in the Church. Let us pray, hope, wait, 
and be ready to cast one mite of endeavour toward the 
blessing of a reconciliation ; in which none could be more 
glad to second you, than, honoured and dear sir, 

Your affectionate, obliged son in the gospel, 

J. F. 

12* 



1 



274 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



CXXIV. — TO MISS PERRONET. 

Nbwington, Jan. 19, 1777. 
Dear Madam, — I thank you for your care and kind nursing 
of me when at Shoreham ; and especially for the few lines 
you have favoured me with. They are so much the more 
agreeable to me, as they treat of the one thing needful for 
the recovery of our souls ; the spirit of power, of love, and 
of a sound mind ; together with our need of it, and the 
grand promise that this need shall be abundantly supplied, 
supplied by a baptismal outpouring of that " Spirit of life 
in Christ Jesus, which makes us free from the law of sin 
and death." May we hunger and thirst after righteousness 
in the Holy Ghost, and we shall be filled. May we so come 
to our first Paraclete, Advocate, and Comforter, as to re- 
ceive the second as an indwelling and overflowing fountain 
of light, life, and love. My view of this mystery is, I trust, 
Scriptural. The Father so loved the world, as to give us 
the first Advocate, Paraclete, and Comforter, whom we love 
and receive as our Redeemer. The first Advocate has told 
us it was expedient that he should leave us ; because, in 
that case, he would send another Advocate, Paraclete, or 
Comforter, to abide with us, and be in us forever, as our 
Sanctifier, our Urim and Thummim, our " lights and perfec- 
tions," our " oracle and guide." This is the grand promise 
to Christians, called "the promise of the Father," and 
brought by the Son. may it be sealed on our hearts by 
" the Spirit of promise !" May we ever cry, 

"'Seal thou our breasts, and let us wear 
That pledge of love forever there." 

Then we shall be filled with pure, perfect love; for the love 
of the Spirit perfects that of the Father and Son, and ac- 
complishes the mystery of God in the believing soul. Come, 
then, let us look for it ; this great salvation draws nigh. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



275 



Let us thank God more thankfully, more joyfully, more 
humbly, more penitently, for Christ our first Comforter; 
and, hanging on his word, let us ardently pray for the ful- 
ness of his Spirit, for the indwelling of our second Com- 
forter, who will lead us into all truth, all love, all power. 
Let us join the few who besiege the throne of grace, and 
not give over putting the Lord in remembrance, till he has 
raised himself a pentecostal Church again in the earth : I 
mean a church of such believers as are all of one heart and 
one soul. Nor forget to ask, that when you press into that 
kingdom and church, you may be followed by, 

Dear madam, yours, &c, 

J. F. 

CXXV. — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Newixgton, Jan. 29, 1777. 
Thanks be to God, and to my dear friend, for favours upon 
favours, for undeserved love and the most endearing tokens 
of it. I have received your obliging letters, full of kind 
offers, and your jar^full of excellent grapes. May God open 
to you the book of life, and seal upon your heart all the 
offers and promises it contains ; and may the treasures of 
Christ's love, and all the fruits of the Spirit, be abundantly 
open to my dear friend and unwearied benefactor ! 

Providence sent me last Sunday Dr. Turner, who, under 
God, saved my life twenty-three years ago in a dangerous 
illness ; and I am inclined to try what his method will do. 
He orders me asses' milk, chicken, &c, forbids me riding, 
and recommends the greatest quietness. He prohibits the 
use of Bristol water ; advises some waters of a purgative 
nature ; and tries to promote expectoration by a method 
that so far answers, though I spit by it more blood than 
before. It will be in order to cure one way or other. 

With respect to my soul, I find it good to be in the 
balance, awfully weighed every day for life or death, I 



276 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

thank God, the latter has lost its sting, and endears to me 
the Prince of life. But ! I want Christ, my resurrec- 
tion, to be a thousand times more dear to me ; and doubt 
not he will be so when I am filled with the Spirit of wis- 
dom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Let us wait 
for that glory, praising God for all we have received, and 
do daily receive ; and trusting him for all we have not yet 
received. Let our faith do justice to his veracity, our hope 
to his goodness, and our love to all his perfections. It is 
good to trust in the Lord, and his saints like well to hope 
in him. I am provided here with every necessary and con- 
venient blessing for my state. The great have even done 
me the honour of calling : Mr. Shirley, Mr. Rowland Hill, 
Mr. Peckwell, &c. I exhort them to promote peace in the 
Church, which they take kindly. I hope God will incline 
us all to peace, living and dying. Lady Huntingdon has 
written me a kind letter also. O for universal, lasting 
kindness ! This world to me is now become a world of 
love. May it be so to my dear friend also. My kindest 
love and thanks wait on yourself, Mrs. Ireland, and all your 
dear family. 

J. F. 

CXXVI. — TO ME, GREENWOOD. 

London, ,1777. 

My Dear Companion in Tribulation, and in the Pa- 
tience of Jesus, — Peace be multiplied unto you, and re- 
signation by the cross of Jesus. I bear your foot on my 
heart, and cast my heart on Him to whom all burdens are 
lighter than a feather. Pascal said, when the rod of tribu- 
lation was upon him, " Now I begin to be a Christian 
meaning, a follower of the Man of sorrows. By his pierced 
feet may yours be eased. Hold this fast, — " Whom the 
Lord loveth, he chastened.'' Accept the rod as a token 
of your adoption ; and be willing to be made perfect in 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 277 



patience by sufferings. In the mean time, rejoice that 
Christ's sufferings are over ; that they are atoning ; and that 
they have purchased our comforts. If you can come safely 
to-morrow, you will bring a blessing to your poor pensioner, 
who remains, in the bonds of grateful, brotherly love, 
Yours, J. F. 

CXXVII. — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Newington, Feb. 24, 1777. 
My Dear Friend, — Let us abandon ourselves without re- 
serve to God, who is alike the God of all grace when he 
chastises as when he blesses us. Be a son of Abraham ; 
be an imitator of God. Abraham refused not to offer up 
his Isaac, and God has delivered his only Son to death for 
us. Refuse nothing to this God of love and tender com- 
passion. The sacrifice of those things which are most 
precious to us are the least unworthy of him ; and had we 
a thousand Isaacs, we ought to keep back none from him. 
Perhaps the Lord hath heard your prayer and ours. If 
your Isaac lives, may he be devoted to the Lord as was 
Samuel ; and may the God of Elijah have all the glory of 
his recovery ! If he be dead, prepare to follow him, and 
do not envy him the sweet repose which he enjoys, and in 
which we shall soon share with him. 

Adieu. They forbid my writing : but I will write to the 
last, — " Blessed be God, who giveth us the victory over 
death and its pains by Jesus Christ !" In him I am, and 
shall always be, altogether yours. 

I am your ten thousand times obliged friend, 

J. F. 

P. S. Your second letter, which reached me when the 
above was written, informs me of your loss ; — but why should 
I call God's securing your son, and giving him eternal life, 
your loss ? It is Christ's gain, who sees in that sweet child 



278 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



the travail of his childhood ; and it is your son's gain, since 
his conflicts and dangers are now over, and nothing awaits 
him but an eternal increase of happiness. Who knows but 
what God, who foresees all the storms of corruption and 
rocks of sin we are likely to meet with in the sea of life, 
has taken your dear child at the best, and by this prema- 
ture death secures him from eternal death ? Come, then, 
do not repine. God has made you the instrument of 
adding one more little cherub to the heavenly host ; and in 
this light you may well say, " The Lord gave, and the Lord 
hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord !" 
He is better than ten sons. Your son is in his bosom ; and 
this new cord should now draw you from earth to heaven 
with a fresh degree of power, — with an irresistible at- 
traction. 

I thank you ten thousand times over for all your repeat- 
ed marks of love and generosity to me and mine : the bur- 
den is too great to bear ; I must cast it upon Him who can 
bless you ten thousand times over, and turn all your seem- 
ing losses into the greatest blessings. May the God of all 
consolation help you to reap the earliest and ripest fruit of 
the affliction, whereby he gives you a new token of your 
adoption. Remember my kind love, and present my best 
thanks to Mrs. Ireland. Yours, etc.. 

J. F. 

CXXVIII. — TO MISS PEEK ONE T. 

Newington, April 21, 1777. 
My Dear Friend — A thousand thanks to you for your 
kind, comfortable lines. The prospect of going to see Jesus 
and his glorified members, and among them your dear de- 
parted brother, my now ever-living friend ; this sweet pros- 
pect is enough to make me quietly and joyfully submit to 
leave all my Shoreham friends, and all the excellent ones 
of the earth. But why do I talk of going to leave any of 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



279 



Christ's members, by going to be more intimately united to 
the Head ? 

ki We all are one who him receive, 
And each with each agree ; 
In him the One, the Truth, we live, 
Blest point of unity !" 

a point this which fills heaven and earth, — which runs 
through time and eternity. What an immense point ! In it 
sickness is lost in health, and death in life. There let us 
ever meet. There " to live is Christ, and to die gain." 

I cannot tell you how much I am obliged to your dear 
brother, for all his kind brotherly attendance as a physician. 
He has given me his time, his long walks, his remedies. 
He has brought me Dr. Turner several times, and will not 
so much as allow me to reimburse his expenses. Help me 
to thank him for all his profusion of love ; for I cannot 
sufficiently do it myself. My duty to your father : I throw 
myself in spirit at his feet, and ask his blessing, and an in- 
terest in his prayers. Tell him, that the Lord is gracious 
to me ; does not suffer the enemy to disturb my peace ; 
and gives me in prospect the victory over death. Thanks 
be to God, who giveth us this great victory through our 
Lord J esus Christ ! Absolute resignation to the divine will 
baffles a thousand temptations, and confidence in our Sa- 
viour carries us sweetly through a thousand trials. God 
fill us abundantly with both ! 

Thank dear Mrs. Bissaker for all her love to my dear de- 
parted friend ; and may our kindred spirits drink deeper 
into God, till they are filled with all the fulness which our 
enlarged souls can admit. Nor let your niece, to whom I 
send my thanks, keep aloof. Let us all tend to our origi- 
nal centre, and experience that life and death are ours, be- 
cause the Prince of life, who is our resurrection and life, has 
overcome sin, death, and the grave for you, and for 

Your obliged, unworthy brother. J. F. 



280 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



CXXIX. — TO ME. AND MRS. GREENWOOD. 

Brislington, May 28, 1777. 
My very Dear Friends and Benefactors, Charles and 
Mary Greenwood, — My prayers shall always be, that the 
merciful may find mercy; and that the great kindness I 
have found under your quiet roof may be showed you 
everywhere under the canopy of heaven. I think with 
grateful joy on the days of calm retreat I have been bless- 
ed with at Newington ; and lament my not having im- 
proved better the opportunity of sitting, like Mary, at the 
feet of my great Physician. May he requite your kind care 
to a dying worm, by abundantly caring for you and yours, 
and making all your bed in your sickness ! May you en- 
joy full health ! May you hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness, both that of Christ and that of the Holy Ghost, 
and be abundantly filled therewith ! May his rod and staff 
comfort you under all the troubles of life, the decays of the 
body, the assaults of the enemy, and the pangs of death ! 
May the reviving cordials of the word of truth be ever 
within the reach of your faith ! and may your eager faith 
make a ready and constant use of them, especially when 
faintings come upon you, and your hands begin to hang 
down ! May you stand in the clefts of the Rock of ages, 
and there be safely sheltered when all the storms of justice 
shall fall around ! May you have always such temporal 
and spiritual helps, friends, and comforts, as I have found 
in your pleasing retreat ! 

You have received a poor Lazarus, though his sores 
were not visible. You have had compassion, like the good 
Samaritan; you have admitted me to the enjoyment of your 
best things ; and he that did not deserve to have the dogs 
to lick his sores, has always found the members of Jesus 
ready to prevent, to remove, or to bear his burdens. And 



PASTORAL A2sD FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



281 



now what shall I say ? What but, " Thanks be to God for 
his unspeakable gift !" and thanks be to my dear friends for 
all their favours ! They will, I trust, be found faithfully 
recorded in my breast, when the great Rewarder of those 
who diligently seek him " will render to every man accord- 
ing to his works." Then shall a raised Lazarus appear in 
the gate to testify of the love of Charles and Mary Green- 
wood, and of their godly sister. 

I thought myself a little better last Sunday ; but I have 
since spit more blood than I had done for weeks before. 
Glory be to God for every providence ! His will be done 
in me, by health or sickness, by life or death. All from 
him is, and I trust will always be, welcome to 

Your obliged pensioner, 

J. F. 

CXXX. — TO THE SAME. 

1777. 

Ten thousand blessings light upon the. heads and hearts of 
my dear benefactors, Charles and Mary Greenwood ! May 
their quiet retreat at Newington become a Bethel to them ! 
May their offspring be bora again there ! And may the 
choicest' consolations of the Spirit visit their minds whenever 
they retire thither from the busy city ! Their poor pensioner 
travels on, though slowly, toward the grave. His journey 
to the sea seems to him to have hastened, rather than re- 
tarded, his progress to his old mother earth. May every 
providential blast blow him nearer to the heavenly haven 
of his Saviour's breast, where he hopes one day to meet all 
his benefactors, and amono' them those whom he now ad- 
dresses. O my dear friends, what shall I render ? what to 
Jesus ? what to you ? May He who invites the heavy laden 
take upon him all the burdens of kindness you have heaped 
on your Lazarus ! And may angels, when you die, find me 



282 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS 



in Abraham's bosom, and bring you into mine, that, by all 
the kindness which may be shown in heaven, I may try to 
requite that you have shown to 

Your obliged brother, J. F. 

CXXXI. — TO MRS. THORNTON. 

Brislixgton, — , 1777. 
My very Dear Friend, — I shall not attempt to express 
my gratitude to you for all your charitable care of a poor 
sickly worm. As we say, that silence speaks often best 
the praises of our great Benefactor, so I must say here. I 
hope these lines will find you leaving the things that are 
behind, and pressing forward toward the mark, the prize 
of our high calling on earth. In heaven we are called to 
be filled with all we can hold of the glorious fulness of God, 
and what that is we know not, but we shall know, if we 
follow on to know the Lord. But here also we are called 
to be filled with all the fulness of God. God is love, you 
know ; to be filled with all his fulness, is, then, to be filled 
with love. may that love be shed abroad in our hearts 
by the Holy Ghost given to us, and abiding bus! I still 
look for that ineffable fulness ; and I beg, if you have not 
yet attained it, you would let nothing damp your hope and 
slack your pursuit. 

I sjDend more time in giving my friends an account of 
my health than the matter is worth. You will see by the 
enclosed, which I beg you would send to the post, when 
you have showed it to Mr. John and Charles Wesley, if 
they think it worth their while to run it over, to see how 
their poor servant does. 

I am going to do by my poor sister what you have 
done by me ; I mean, try to smooth the road of sickness 
to the chamber of death, Gratitude and blood call me to 
it : you have done it without such calls. Your brotherly 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS 



283 



kindness is freer than mine ; but not so free as the love 
of Jesus, who took upon him our nature, that he might 
bear our infirmities, die our death, and make over to us his 
resurrection and his life, after all we have done to render 
life hateful and death horrible to him. O, for this match- 
less love, let rocks and hills, let hearts and tongues, break 
an ungrateful silence : and let your Christian muse find 
new anthems, and your poetic heart new flights of eloquence 
and thankfulness. You partly owe me, by promise, a 
piece of poetry, on joy in redeeming and sanctifying love. 
May the Spirit of praise assist you mightily in the noble 
work ! Maintain the frame of poetic Christian joy, by 
using all your talents of grace and nature to embrace and 
show forth his goodness. 

I shall be glad to hear from you in Switzerland ; and 
shall doubly rejoice, if you can send me word that she, 
who is joined to the Lord according to the glory of the 
new covenant, is on« spirit with him, and enjoys all the 
glorious liberty of the children of God ! The God of peace 
be with you all ! 

I am, my dear friend, &c, J. F. 

CXXXIL — TO THE SAME. 

Brislington, — , 1777. 
My Dear Friend, — You should have heard from me, if 
Sometimes want of spirits to hold a pen, and for some days 
want of paper, had not stood in the way of my inclination. 
Now I have paper and a degree of strength, how can I 
employ both better, than in trying to fulfil with my pen 
the great commandment, which contains my duty to God 
and my neighbour ? But what can a pen do here ? It can 
just testify what my heart feels ; that no words can de- 
scribe what I owe to my heavenly Benefactor, to my earthly 
frie'nds, and to you in particular, who have had so much 



284 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



patience as to stand by me, and bear a share in my bur- 
dens, for so many months, at home and abroad. 

What shall I say ? Thanks be to God for his unspeak- 
able gifts, for Jesus, for the Spirit of Jesus, for the mem- 
bers of Jesus's mystical body ; and in particular am I 
bound to return thanks for those who have ministered, and 
still do minister, to my wants, and share in my infirmities. 
Your meek humility forbids my saying, that among the 
many who, for Christ's sake, have debased themselves so 
far as to take up my cross with me, and help me to bear it 
after my Lord, you stand in the first rank, and the first- 
fruits of my gratitude are due to you. Simon of Cyrene 
bore our Lord's cross by compulsion : you have borne that 
of the most unworthy of his servants without compulsion. 
And now, what shall I render ? A silent tear whispers, " I 
can render nothing." May the merciful, faithful God, who 
has promised that a cup of cold water, given to the least 
of his followers, shall not lose its reward ; may that omnipo- 
tent God, who sees you in all the states of weakness which 
await you between the present moment and the hour of 
death, give you all that can make your fife comfortable, 
your trials tolerable, your death triumphant, and your 
eternity glorious ! 

What I ask for you, I also peculiarly beg for your dear 
brother and sister, who have vouchsafed to bind so dry, 
so insignificant, (I had almost said, so rotten,) a stick as 
myself, in the bundle of that love with which they embrace 
the poor, the lame, the helpless, the loathsome, and those 
who have their sores without, as Lazarus, or within, as L 
May we all be found bound up together in the bundle of 
life, light, and love, with our Lord ! And when he shall 
make up his jewels, may you all shine among his diamonds 
of the finest water and the first magnitude ! 

You want, possibly, to know how I go on. Though I 
am not worth a line, I shall observe, to the glory of my 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 285 



patient, merciful Preserver and Redeemer, that I am kept 
in sweet peace, and am looking for the triumphant joy of 
my Lord, and for the fulness expressed in these words, 
which sweetly filled the sleepless hours of last night, — 

" Drawn, and redeemed, and seal'd, 
I bless the One and Three ; 
With Father, Son, and Spirit filTd 
To all eternity !" 

With respect to my body, I sleep less, and spit more 
blood, than I did when you were here, nor can I bear the 
least trot of an easy horse. If this continues many days, 
instead of thinking to go and see my friends on the conti- 
nent, I shall turn my steps to my earthly home, to be 
ready to lay my bones in my church-yard ; and in such a 
case, I shall put you in mind of your kind promise, that 
you would do to the last the office of a guardian angel, 
hold up my hands in my last conflict, and close my eyes 
when it is over. Two of my parishioners came to convey 
me safe home, and had persuaded me to go with them in a 
post-chaise ; but I had so bad a night before the day I was 
to set out, that I gave it up. 

My prospects and ways are shut up, so that I have 
nothing to look at but Jesus and the grave. May I so look 
at them, as to live in my resurrection and my life, and die 
in ail the meekness and holiness of my Lord and my all ! 
I humbly request a continued interest in your fervent 
prayers, that I may be found completely ready when my 
Lord's messenger shall come for my soul. Adieu, my dear 
friend. God bless and reward you. 

I am your most affectionate friend and brother, 

J. F. 



286 PASTORAL AP FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

CXXXIIL—TO THE EIGHT HON. LADY MARY 
FITZGERALD. 

Madeley, Oct. 21, 1777. 
Honoured and Dear Madam, — The honour of your Chris- 
tian letter humbles me ; and the idea of your taking half a 
dozen steps, much more that of your taking a journey, to 
consult so mean a creature, lays me in the dust. My 
brothers and sisters invite me to breathe once more my 
natal air, and the physicians recommend to me a jour- 
ney to the continent. I wait for the last intimations of 
Providence to determine me to go. If I do, I shall proba- 
bly pass through London ; and in that case I could have 
the honour of waiting upon you. I say probably, because 
I should only follow my friend, and a serious family which 
goes to spend the winter in the south of France, or in 
Spain ; and I do not yet know whether they design to em- 
bark at Dover, or at some port in the west of England. 
They have all taken a journey, and at their return I shall 
know their determination, and be able to fix the time when 
I might have it in my power to wait upon you, madam, 
either at your house, or at our dear friend's in St. James's 
Place. 

With respect to the hints you drop in your letter con- 
cerning your external circumstances, I find it upon my 
heart to say, Abide in the state in which you have been 
called, till Providence makes a way for you to escape out 
of what may be contrary to your new taste. Your cross 
has changed its nature with your heart ; and we may, in 
some cases, be called to take up a worldly as well as a 
heavenly cross. Joseph and Moses did so once in Egypt, 
Esther in Susa, Daniel in Babylon, John the Baptist at 
Herod's court, and our Lord in the house of the rich 
Pharisee. Some great end, to yourself or to others, may 
be answered by patiently bearing your worldly cross till 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



287 



it be taken from you, or you are removed from under it. 
Continue to make it matter of earnest prayer to know the 
will of God concerning you ; and while your eye watches 
the motions of the providential cloud, and your heart 
listens for the Lord's call, endeavour to keep your will as 
an even balance at his feet, that the least grain of intima- 
tion, clear intimation from him, and the least distinct 
touch of the hand of Providence, may turn the scale either 
way, without resistance on your part. Being thus fully 
persuaded, you will do and suffer all with the liberty and 
courage of faith. 

You have been afflicted, as well as dear Mrs. G , 

Mrs. L , and myself. May our maladies yield the 

peaceable fruits of righteousness, complete deadness to 
the world, and increased faith in the mercy, love, and 
power of Him who supports under the greatest trials, and 
can make our extremity of weakness an opportunity of 
displaying the freeness of his grace, and the greatness of 
his power. Give my duty and thanks to them, and tell 
them, that I salute them under the cross with the sympa- 
thy of a companion in tribulation, and rejoice at the 
thought of doing it, where the cross shall be exchanged 
for the crown. In the mean time, let us glory in the cross 
of our common Head ; and firmly believe that he is 
exalted to give us whatever is Jbest for us in life, in death, 
and forever. 

I have taken the bark for some days, and it seems to 
have been blessed to the removal of my spitting blood. 
Time will decide whether it be a real removal, or only 
a suspension, of that symptom. Either will prove a 
blessing, as His will is our health. To live singly to God, 
the best method is to desire it in meekness ; to spread the 
desire in quietness before Him who inspireth it ; to offer 
him now all we have and are as we can ; and to open 
our mouth of expectation wide, that he may either fill it 



288 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTER*}. 

with good things with all his fulness, or that he may try 
our patience, and teach us to know our total helplessness. 
With respect to the weeping frame of repentance, and the 
joyous one of faith, they are both good alternately : but 
the latter is the better of the two, because it enables us to 
do, and suffer, and praise, which honours Christ more : 
both are happily mixed. May they be so in you, madam, 
and in 

Your unworthy and obliged servant, J. F. 

CXXXIV. — TO THE REV. MESSRS. JOHN AND 
CHARLES WESLEY. 

Macon, in Burgundy, May 17, 1778. 
Rev. and Dear Sirs, — I hope that while I lie by, like a 
broken vessel, the Lord continues to renew your vigour, 
and sends you to water his vineyard, and to stand in the gap 
against error and vice. I have recovered some strength, 
blessed be God, since I came to the continent ; but have 
lately had another attack of my old complaints. However, 
I find myself better again, though I think it yet advisable 
not to speak in public. 

I preached twice at Marseilles, but was not permitted to 
follow the blow. There are a few noble, inquisitive Bereans 
in these parts. The ministers in the town of my nativity 
have been very civil ; they have offered me the pulpit ; but 
I fear, if I could accept the offer, it would soon be recalled. 
I am loath to quit this part of the field without casting a 
stone at that giant, sin, who stalks about with uncommon 
boldness. I shall therefore stay some months longer, to see 
if the Lord will please to give me a little more strength to 
venture an attack. 

Gaming and dress, sinful pleasure and love of money, 
unbelief and false philosophy, lightness of spirit, fear of 
man, and love of the world, are the principal sins by which 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



289 



Satan binds his captives in these parts. Materialism is not 
rare ; deism and Socinianism are very common ; and a set 
of free-thinkers — great admirers of Voltaire and Rousseau, 
Bayley and Mirabeau — seem bent upon destroying Chris- 
tianity and government. " With one hand/' said a lawyer, 
who has written something against them, u they shake the 
throne, and with the other they throw down the altars." 
If we believe them, the world is the dupe of kings and 
priests ; religion is fanaticism and superstition ; subordina- 
tion is slavery and tyranny. Christian morality is absurd, 
unnatural, and impracticable ; and Christianity the most 
bloody religion that ever was. And here it is certain, that 
by the example of " Christians," so called, and by our con- 
tinual disputes, they have a great advantage, and do the 
truth immense mischief. Popery will certainly fall in France, 
in this or the next century ; and, I make no doubt, God 
will use those vain men to bring about a reformation here, 
as he used Henry the Eighth to do that work in England : 
so the madness of his enemies shall at last turn to his 
praise, and to the furtherance of his kingdom. 

In the mean time, it becomes all lovers of the truth to 
make their heavenly tempers, and humble, peaceful love, to 
shine before all men, that those mighty adversaries, seeing 
the good works of professors, may glorify their Father who 
is in heaven, and no more blaspheme that worthy name by 
which we are all called " Christians." 

If you ask what system these men adopt, I answer that 
some build on deism, a morality founded on self-preserva- 
tion, self-interest, and self-honour. Others laugh at all 
morality, except that which, being neglected, violently dis- 
turbs society ; and external order is the decent covering of 
fatalism, while materialism is their system. 

0, dear sirs, let me entreat you, in these dangerous days, 
to use your wide influence with unabated zeal against the 
scheme of these modern Celsuses, Porphyries, and Julians, 

13 



290 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

by calling all professors to think and speak the same things ; 
to love and embrace one another ; and to stand firmly em- 
bodied to resist those daring men, many of whom are 
already in England, headed by the admirers of Mr. Hume 
and Mr. Hobbes. But it is needless to say this to those 
who have made, and continue to make, such a stand for 
vital Christianity ; so that I have nothing to do but pray 
that the Lord would abundantly support and strengthen 
you to the last, and make you a continued comfort to his 
enlightened people, loving reprovers of those who mix 
light and darkness, and a terror to the perverse : and this is 
the cordial prayer of, reverend and dear sirs, 

Your affectionate son and obliged servant in the gospel, 

J. F. 

P. S. I need not tell you, sirs, that the hour in which 
Providence shall make my way plain to return to England, 
to unite with the happy number of those who feel or seek 
the power of Christian godliness, will be welcome to me. 
O favoured Britons ! Happy would it be for them, if they 
knew their gospel privileges ! My relations in Adam are all 
very kind to me ; but the spiritual relations whom God has 
raised me in England exceed them yet. Thanks be to 
Christ, and to his blasphemed religion ! 

CXXXV. — TO THE REV. DR. CONYERS. 

Macon, in Burgundy, May 18, 1778. 
Hon. and Dear Sir, — I left orders with a friend to send 
you a little book, called " The Reconciliation ;" in which I 
endeavour to bring nearer the children of God, who are 
divided about their partial views of divine truths. I do not 
know whether that tract has, in any degree, answered its 
design ; but I believe truth can be reconciled with itself, and 
the candid children of God one with another, O that some 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



291 



abler hand and more loving heart would undertake to 
mend my plan, if it be worth mending, or draw one more 
agreeable to the word of God! My eyes are upon you, 
dear sir, and those who are like-minded with you, for this 
work. Disappoint me not of my hope. Stand forth, and 
make way for reconciling love, by removing, so far as lies 
in you, what is in the way of brotherly union. 0, sir, the 
work is worthy of you ! and if you saw with what boldness 
the false philosophers of the Continent, who are the apostles 
of the age, attack Christianity, and represent it as one of 
the worst religions in the world, and fit only to make the 
professors of it murder one another, or, at least, to contend 
among themselves, and how they urge our disputes to 
make the gospel of Christ the jest of nations, and the 
abhorrence of all flesh, you would break through your 
natural timidity, and invite all our brethren in the ministry 
to do what the herds do on the Swiss mountains, when 
wolves attack them ; instead of goring one another, they 
unite, form a close battalion, and face the common enemy 
on all sides. What a shame would it be if cows and bulls 
showed more prudence, and more regard for union, than 
Christians and gospel ministers ! 

0, dear sir, take courage ! Be bold for the reconciling 
truth. Be bold for peace. You can do all things, through 
Christ strengthening you ; and, as Doctor Conyers, you 
can do many things, — a great many more than you think. 
What if you go, sir, in Christ's name, to all the gospel 
ministers of your acquaintance, exhort them as a father, 
entreat them as a brother, and bring them, or as many of 
them as you can, together ! think you that your labour 
would be in vain in the Lord ? Impossible, sir ! O despair 
not ! " Charity hopeth all things," and, as Kempis saith, 
" it trieth all things ; and bringeth many things to pass 
which would appear impossible to him who despaireth, 
hateth, or careth not for the sheep." 



292 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

If you want a coach, or a friend to accompany you, 
when you go upon this errand of love, remember there is a 
Thornton in London, and an Ireland in Bristol, who will 
wish you God speed, and make your way plain before you ; 
and God will raise many more to concur in the peaceful 
work. Let me humbly entreat you to go to w r ork and to 
persevere in it. I wish I had strength to be, at least, 
your postilion when you go. I would drive, if not like 
Jehu, at least with some degree of cheerful swiftness, while 
Christ smiled on the Christian attempt. But I am con- 
fident you can do all in the absence, and without the con- 
currence, of him who is, with brotherly love and dutiful 
respect, honoured and dear sir, 

Your obedient servant in the gospel, J. F. 

CXXXVI. — TO MR. WILLIAM PERRONET. 

Nyon, June 2, 1778. 
My Dear Friend, — When I wrote to you last, I mentioned 
two ladies of your family, who have married two brothers, 
Messrs. Monod. Since that time, they have requested me 
to send to your father the enclosed memorial, which I hope 
will prove of use to your family. As the bad writing and 
the language may make the understanding of it difficult to 
you, I send you the substance of it, and of the letter of 
the ladies' lawyer. 

While I invite you to make your title clear to a preca- 
rious estate on earth, permit me, my dear sir, to remind 
you of the heavenly inheritance entailed on believers. The 
will — the New Testament — by which we can recover it, is 
proved. The court is just and equitable, the Judge is 
gracious and loving. To enter into possession of a part 
of the estate here, and of the whole hereafter, we need only 
believe, and prove evangelically that we are believers. Let 
us then set about it now with earnestness, with perse- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 293 



verance, and with a full assurance, that, through grace, we 
shall infallibly carry our cause. Alas ! what are estates 
and crowns to grace and glory ! The Lord grant that we 
and all our friends may choose the better part, which your 
brother, my dear friend, so happily chose. And may we 
firmly stand to the choice, as he did to the last. My best 
respects wait upon your dear father, your sisters, and 
nieces. God reward your kindness to me upon them all ! 

I have had a pull-back since I wrote last. After I left 
Mr. Ireland at Macon, to shorten my journey and enjoy 
new prospects, I ventured to cross the mountains which 
separate France from this country. But on the third day 
of the journey I found an unexpected trial : a large hill, 
whose winding roads were so steep, that though we fed 
the horses with bread and wine, they could scarcely draw 
the chaise, obliged me to walk in all the steepest places. 
The climbing lasted several hours, the sun was hot, I per- 
spired violently, and the next day I spit blood again. I 
have chiefly kept to goats' milk ever since, and hope I 
shall get over this death also, because I find myself, bless- 
ed be God, better again, and my cough is neither frequent 
nor violent. 

This is a delightful country. If you come to see it, and 
claim the estate, bring all the papers and memorials your 
father can collect, and come to share a pleasant apartment, 
and one of the finest prospects in the world, in the house 
where I was born. God bless you, my dear friend ! Be- 
lieve me, dear sir, &c, 

J. F. 

CXXXVII, — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Nyon, My 15, 1778. 
My Dear Friend, — I have ventured to preach once, and 
to expound once in the church. Our ministers are very 
kind, and preach to the purpose : a young one of this town 



294 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

gave us lately a very excellent gospel sermon. Grown-up 
people stand fast in their stupidity, or in their self-righteous- 
ness. The day I preached, I met with some children in 
my wood, walking or gathering strawberries. I spoke to 
them about our Father, our common Father. We felt a 
touch of brotherly affection. They said they would sing to 
their Father, as well as the birds ; and followed me, at- 
tempting to make such melody as you know is commonly 
made in these parts. I outrode them, but some of them 
had the patience to follow me home, and said they would 
speak with me ; but the people of the house stopped them, 
saying, I would not be troubled with children. They cried, 
and said they were sure I would not say so, for I was 
their good brother. The next day, when I heard it, I in- 
quired after them, and invited them to come to me ; which 
they have done every day since. I make them little hymns, 
which they sing. Some of them are under sweet draw- 
ings. Yesterday I wept for joy on hearing one speak of 
conviction of sin, and joy unspeakable in Christ which had 
followed, as would do an experienced believer in Bristol. 
Last Sunday I met them in the wood : there were one 
hundred of them, and as many adults. Our first pastor 
has since desired me to desist from preaching in the wood, 
(for I had exhorted,) for fear of giving umbrage; and I 
have complied, from a concurrence of circumstances which 
are not worth mentioning. I therefore meet them in my 
father's yard. 

In <Dne of my letters, I promised you some anecdotes 
concerning the death of our two great philosophers, Vol- 
taire and Rousseau. M. Tronchin, the physician of the 
Duke of Orleans, being sent for to attend Voltaire in his 
illness at Paris, Voltaire said to him, " Sir, I desire you 
would save my life. I will give you the half of my fortune 
if you lengthen out my days only for six months. If not, I 
shall go to the devil, and shall carry you away along with me/' 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 295 

Mr. Rousseau died more decently, as full of himself as 
Voltaire was of the wicked one. He paid that attention to 
nature, and the natural sun, which the Christian pays to 
grace, and the Sun of righteousness. These are some of 
his last words to his wife, which I copy from a printed let- 
ter circulating in these parts. " Open the window, that I 
may see the green fields once more. How beautiful is na- 
ture ! How wonderful is the sun ! See that glorious light 
it sends forth ! It is God who calls me. How pleasing is 
death to a man who is not conscious of any sin ! God, 
my soul is now as pure as when it first came out of thy 
hands : crown it with thy heavenly bliss S" God deliver us 
from self and Satan, the internal and external fiend ! The 
Lord forbid we should fall into the snare of the Sadducees, 
with the former of those two famous men, or into that of 
the Pharisees with the latter. Farewell in Jesus. 

J. F. 

CXXXVIIL— TO THE SAME. 

Nton. Sept. 15, 1778. 
My Dear Friend, — I am just returned from an exclusion 
I made with my brother, through the fine vale in the midst 
of the high hills which divide France from this country. 
In that vale we found three lakes, one on French ground, 
and two on Swiss ; the largest is six miles long and two 
wide. It is the part of the country where industry is most 
apparent, and where population thrives best. The inhabit- 
ants are chiefly woodmen, coopers, watchmakers, and jew- 
ellers. They told me they had the best singing and the 
best preacher in the country. I asked, if any sinners were 
converted under his ministry. They stared, and asked 
what I meant by conversion. When I had explained my- 
self, they said we did not live in the time of miracles. 

I was better satisfied in passing through a part of the 
vale which belongs to the king of France. I saw a prodi- 



296 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



gious concourse of people, and supposed they kept a fair, 
but was agreeably surprised to find it was three mission- 
aries, who went about as itinerant preachers to help the 
regular clergy. They had been there already some days, 
and were three brothers, who preached morning and even- 
ing. The evening service opened by what they called " a 
conference." One of the missionaries took the pulpit, and 
the parish priest proposed questions to him, which he an- 
swered at full length, and in a very edifying manner. The 
subject was the unlawfulness and the mischief of those 
methods, by which persons of different sexes lay snares for 
each other, and corrupt each other's morals. The subject 
was treated with delicacy, propriety, and truth. The method 
was admirably well calculated to draw and fix the atten- 
tion of a mixed multitude. This conference being ended, 
another missionary took the pulpit. His text was our Lord's 
description of the day of judgment. Before the sermon, 
all those who for the press could kneel, did, and sung a 
French hymn, to beg a blessing upon the word : and indeed 
it, was blessed. An awful attention was visible upon most ; 
and for a good part of the discourse, the voice of the 
preacher was almost lost in the cries and bitter wailings of 
the audience. When the outcry began, the preacher was 
describing the departure of the wicked into eternal fire. 
They urged that God was merciful, and that Jesus Christ 
had shed his blood for them. " But that mercy you have 
slighted," replies the Judge, " and now is the time of jus- 
tice : that blood you have trodden under foot, and now it 
cries for vengeance. Know your day ; slight the Father's 
mercy and the Son's blood no longer." I have seen but 
once or twice congregations as much affected in England. 

One of our ministers being ill, I ventured a second time 
into the pulpit last Sunday ; and the Sunday before I 
preached six miles off to two thousand people in a jail- 
yard, where they were come to see a poor murderer 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



297 



two days before his execution. I was a little abused by 
the bailiff on the occasion, and refused the liberty of attend- 
ing the poor man to the scaffold,where he was to be broken 
on the wheel. I hope he died penitent. The day before 
he suffered, he said he had broken his irons ; and that, as 
he deserved to die, he desired new ones to be put on, lest 
he should be tempted to make his escape a second time. 

You ask what I design to do. I propose, if it be the 
Lord's will, to spend a winter here, to bear my testimony 
against the trade of my countrymen, which Voltaire de- 
scribes thus : — 

" Barbares, dont la guerre est Vunique metier, 
Et qui vendent leur sang a qui veut le payer" 

In the spring, I shall, if nothing prevents, return to Eng- 
land with you, or with Mr. Perronet, if his affairs are* set- 
tled, or alone, if other ways fail. In the mean while, I 
rejoice with you in Jesus, and in the glorious hope of that 
complete salvation his faithfulness has promised, and his 
power can never be at a loss to bestow. We must be 
saved by faith and hope, till we are saved by perfect love, 
and made partakers of heavenly glory. 

I am truly a stranger here. Well then, as strangers, let 
us go where we shall meet the assembly of the righteous 
gathered in Jesus. Farewell in him, you and yours. 

J. F. 

CXXXIX. — TO THE SAME. 

Ntox, Feb. 2, 1779. 
My Dear Friend, — I am sorry to hear that you are still 
tried by illness ; but our good heavenly Father will have 
us to live with one foot on earth, and the other in the 
stirrup of our infirmities, ready to mount, and pass from 
time into eternity. He is wise : his will be done, his name 
praised, and our souls saved, though it be by the skin of 
our teeth. 

13* 



298 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



I am better, thank God, and ride out every day when 
the slippery roads will permit me to venture without the 
risk of breaking my horse's legs and my own neck. You 
will ask me how I have spent my time. I pray, have 
patience, rejoice, and write when I can. I saw wood in 
the house when I cannot go out, and eat grapes, of which 
I have always a basket by me. Our little lord-lieutenant 
has forbidden the ministers to let me exhort in the parson- 
age, because it is the sovereign's house. My second 
brother has addressed a memorial to him, in which he in- 
forms him, that he will give up neither his religious nor 
civil liberty, and will open his house for the word of God ; 
and accordingly we have since met at his house. On 
Sunday we met at the young clergyman's, w T ho, on his 
part, writes against the conduct of the clergy ; but I fear 
we fence against a wall of brass. However, I am quite 
persuaded that Providence calls me to leave a testimony to 
my French brethren, and it may be of some use when I 
shall be no more. I have been comforted by seeing the 
apology of a minister at Yverdon, who was persecuted in 
the beginning of this century, under the name of " pietist." 
I have got acquainted with a faithful minister of Geneva ; 
but he dares no more offer me his pulpit than my brother- 
in-law at Lausanne. 

The Lord was not in the forwardness of the young man 
I mentioned. It was but a fire of straw, and he has now 
avoided me for some weeks. Several young women seem 
to have received the word in the love of it ; and four or 
five grown up ones ; but not one man, except the young 
hopeful clergyman I mention, who helps me at my little 
meetings, and begins to preach extempore. I hope he 
will stand his ground better than he who was such an ap- 
prover when you were here, and is now dying, after having 
been drawn back to the world. 

The truths T chiefly insist upon, when I talk to the peo- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 299 



pie who will hear me, are those which I feed upon myself, 
as my daily bread, — " God, our Maker and Preserver, 
though invisible, is here and everywhere. He is our chief 
good, because all beauty and all goodness centres in and 
flows from him. He is especially love ; and love in us, be- 
ing his image, is the sum and substance of all moral and 
spiritual excellence, — of all true and lasting bliss. In 
Adam we are all estranged from love and from God ; but 
the second Adam, Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, is come 
to make us know and enjoy again our God, as the God of 
love and the chief good. All who receive Jesus, receive 
power to become the sons of God," &c, &c. 

I hope I shall be able to set out for England with Mr. 
Perronet, in April or May. that I may find that dear 
island in peace within and without! Well, I hope you 
make peace in the Church, if you cannot make peace with 
the patriots. God is a good God. Do you know, the coats 
and shoes you gave me have lasted all this while, and are 
yet good ; so that I need not draw upon your banker. 
Thank God and you for a thousand favours ! God bless 
and comfort you, my dear friend ! We are poor creatures ; 
but we have a good God to cast all our burdens upon, and 
who often burdens us, that we may have our constant and 
free recourse to his bounty, power, and faithfulness. Stand 
fast in the faith. Believe lovingly, and all will be well. 
Farewell. J. F. 

CXL. — TO ME. CHARLES GREENWOOD. 

Nton, May 22, 1779. 
My Dear Friend, — I am yet alive, able to ride out, and 
now and then to instruct a few children. I hope Mr. 
Perronet will soon have settled his affairs, and then, please 
God, I shall inform you, by word of mouth, how much I 
am indebted to you, Mrs. Greenwood, and Mrs. Thornton. 



300 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



I know it so much the more now, as I have made trial of the 
kindness of my relations in Adam : those in Christ exceed 
them as far, in my account, as grace does nature. Thank 
and salute them earnestly from me ; and to those of your 
own household, please to add Mr. John and Charles "Wes- 
ley, Dr. Coke, Mr. Atlay, &c. That the Lord would fill 
you all with his choicest blessings, as you have done me, 
is, my dear friend, the earnest prayer of 

Your poor pensioner, J. F. 

P. S. Mr. Perronet wants me to fill up his letter : I 
would gladly do it, with thanks to God for his unspeakable 
gifts, — his Son, his Spirit, and his word ! And thanks be 
to his people for their kindness toward the poor, the sick, 
the stranger, and especially toward me ! But at this time, 
a sleepless night, and a constant tooth-ache, unfit me for 
almost everything, but lying down under the cross, kissing 
the rod, and rejoicing in hope of a better state in this world 
or in the next. But, perhaps, weakness and pain are the 
best for me in this world. Well, the Lord will choose for 
me ; and I fully set my heart and seal to his choice. Let 
us not faint in the day of adversity. The Lord tries us, 
that our faith may be found purged of all the dross of self- 
will, and may work by that love which beareth all things, 
and thinketh evil of nothing. Our calling is to follow the 
Cmcified ; and we must be crucified with him, until body 
and soul know the power of his resurrection, and pain and 
death are done away. 

I hope my dear friend will make, with me, a constant 
choice of the following mottoes of St. Paul : " Christ is grain 
in life and death," — " Our life is hid with Christ in God," — 
"If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him,"— 
"We glory in tribulation," — "God will give us rest with 
Christ, in that day," — "'We are saved by hope ;" and that 
Mis? Thornton will always, by word and deed, stand to her 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 301 



motto, and rejoice in the Lord our God, Creator, Redeemer, 
and Sanctifier. To him let us give glory in the fires. 
Amen. 

CXLI. — TO MESSRS. HARE, TERRY, EOX, AND GOOD, 
AT HULL; AND MESSRS. PRESTON, SIMPSON, AND 
RAMSDEN, AT YORK. 

London, Nov. 12, 1779. 
My Dear Brethren, — I thank you for your kind letters and 
invitations to visit you, and the brethren about you, should 
the Lord raise me to any degree of my former strength. I 
have often found an attraction to my companions in tribu- 
lation in Yorkshire. My desire was indeed a little selfish : 
I wanted to improve by the conversation of my unknown 
brethren. If God bids me be strong again out of weak- 
ness, I shall be glad to try if he will be pleased to comfort 
us by the mutual faith both of you and me. My desire 
is, that Christ may be glorified both in my life and death. 
I am glad you wish that the power of godliness may flourish 
among the professors of the faith. If I have any desire 
to live at any time, God is my witness that it is principally 
to be a witness in word and deed of the dispensation of 
power from on high ; and to point out that kingdom which 
does not consist in word, but in power, even in righteous- 
ness, peace, and joy by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of 
power. I am writing an essay upon that important part 
of the Christian doctrine, and hope that it will be a mite 
in the treasury of truth, which the Lord has opened for 
the use of his people. 

Should I be spared to visit you, the keep of a horse, 
and the poor rider, will be all the burden that I should lay 
on you ; and that will be more than my heavenly Master 
indulged himself in. I am just setting out for Norwich 
with Mr. Wesley, whose renewed strength and immense 



302 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



labours astonish me. What a pattern for preachers ! His 
redeeming the time is, if I mistake not, matchless. 

Should I never have the pleasure of thanking you in 
person, for your brotherly regard, I beg you will all endea- 
vour to meet me in the kingdom of our Father, where 
distance of time and place is lost in the fulness of Him 
that is all in all. The way ye know, the penitential way 
of a heartfelt faith working by obedient love. In that 
good, though narrow way, I trust you will help, by your 
prayers and example, my dear brethren, your affectionate 
brother and willing servant in Christ, 

J. F. 

CXLII. — TO A NOBLEMAN. 

Nyon, Dec, 15, 1779. 

My Lord, — If the American Colonies and the West-India 
Islands are rent from the crown, there will not grow one 
ear of corn the less in Great Britain. We shall still have 
the necessaries of life, and, what is more, the gospel, and 
liberty to hear it. If the great springs of trade and wealth 
are cut off, good men will bear that loss without much sor- 
row ; for springs of wealth are always springs of luxury, 
which, sooner or later, destroy the empires corrupted by 
wealth. Moral good may come out of our losses : I wish 
you may see it in England. People on the continent im- 
agine they see it already in the English on their travels, 
who are said to behave with more wisdom and less haugh- 
tiness than they were used to do. 

Last year saw the death of three great men of these 
parts — Rousseau, Voltaire, and Baron Haller, a senator of 
Berne. The last, who is not much known, I think, in 
England, was a great philosopher, a profound politician, 
and an agreeable poet : but he was particularly famous for 
his skill in botany, anatomy, and physic. He has enriched 
the republic of letters by such a number of publications in 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 303 



Latin and German, that the catalogue of them is alone a 
pamphlet. 

This truly great man has given another proof of the 
truth of Lord Bacon's assertion, that " although smatterers 
in philosophy are often impious, true philosophers are 
always religious." I have met with an old, pious, apostolic 
clergyman, who was intimate with the baron, and used to 
accompany him over the Alps, in his rambles after the 
wonders of nature. " With what pleasure," said the minis- 
ter, " did we admire and adore the wisdom of the God of 
nature, and sanctify our researches by the sweet praises of 
the God of grace !" 

When the emperor passed this way, he stabbed Voltaire 
to. the heart by not paying him a visit ; but he waited on 
Haller, was two hours with him, and heard from him such 
pious talk as he never heard from half the philosophers of 
the age. The baron was then ill of the disorder which 
afterward carried him off. 

Upon his death-bed, he went through sore conflicts about 
his interest in Christ, and sent to the old minister, re- 
questing his most fervent prayers, and wishing him to find 
the way through the dark valley smoother than he found 
it himself. However, in his last moments, he expressed a 
renewed confidence in God's mercy, through Christ, and 
died in peace. The old clergyman added, that he thought 
the baron went through this conflict to humble him tho- 
roughly, and perhaps to chastise him for having sometimes 
given way to a degree of self-complacence, at the thought 
of his amazing parts, and of the respect they procured him 
from the learned world. He was obliged to become last 
in his own eyes, that he might become first and truly great 
in the sight of the Lord. 

I am, my lord, &c, J. F. 



304 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



CXLIII. — TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY MARY 
FITZGERALD. 

Made ley, Sept. 3, 1781. 
My much Honoured Lady, — Two days ago I came here, 
after an absence of aboYe a month ; and yesterday I re- 
ceived the honour of your letter without date, which has 
been, I am told, waiting here some time. What a pity I 
did not rejoice sooner in the good news you send me, that 
you desire to be entirely devoted to God ! Indeed, com- 
plaints follow ; but heaven is in that holy desire. If you 
cultivate it, it will produce all that conformity to a holy 
God, which love can bring to a human soul, called to par- 
take the divine nature. As for your complaints, they are 
the natural expressions of that repentance which precedes, 
in our hearts, the coming of the Comforter, who is to abide 
with us forever. I am ready to rejoice or to mourn with 
my honoured friend ; and I have abundant cause to do 
both, with respect to myself, my ministrations, the Church, 
and my people. 

And will you, indeed, find it in your heart to honour 
my house with your presence, and perfume also with your 
prayers the plain apartments occupied by your friend 
Johnson ? I wonder at nothing on earth when I consider 
the- condescension with which Emmanuel came down from 
heaven, and filled a stable with his glory. Your time, my 
condescending friend, will suit me best. You will be 
queen in my hermitage : the Lord will rule in our hearts, 
and you will command under him within our walls. You 
smile, perhaps, at the vastness of your new empire ; but 
if you can be content and happy in God in my homely 
solitude, you will make greater advances toward bliss, 
than if you obtained the principality of Wales. But if 
you cannot be happy with Jesus, prayer, praise, godly 
conversation, and retirement, expect a disappointment. 



PASTORAL AXD FAMILIAR LETTERS. 305 



However, my honoured friend, if you come, come as the 
serious Catholics go on a pilgrimage, as French noblemen 
go to the Carthusian convent at La Trappe, as the French 
king's aunts went to the Carmelites ; come and do evan- 
gelical penance. Our good friend Johnson will tell you 
of an upper room, where we crucify our old man, and have 
had many a visit from the new. If you do not bring her 
with you, bring her faith, which brought him down, and 
then you shall not pine for the company of earthly princes. 

The Prince of peace and life himself will keep his court 
in our cottage, and your heart shall be one of his favourite 
thrones. 

I hope, my lady, you will bring us good news of our 
friends in St. James's Place. My heart visits them often, 
and if bodies could move as quick as thought, they would 
be importuned frequently with my company. If you write 
to them before I do, convey my Christian and grateful love 
in your letter, and accept it yourself, from, my honoured 
and dear lady, 

Your dutiful servant in Christ, J. F. 

CXLIV. — TO MISS PEEROXET. 

Madelet, Sept. 4, 1781. 
My Dear Friexd, — You want '''some thoughts on the love 
of God," and I want the warmest feelings of it. Let us 
believe his creating, feel his preserving, admire his redeem- 
ing, and triumph in his sanctifying love. Loving is the best 
way to grow in love. Look we, then, at the love of our 
heavenly Father, shining in the face of our elder Brother, 
and we shall be changed into love, his image and nature, 
from one glorious and glorifying degree of love to 
another. Love always delights in the object loved. 
"Delight thou in the Lord," then, "and thou shalt have 
thy heart's desire ;" for we can desire nothing more than 



306 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



the supreme good, and infinite bliss : both are in God. 
When, therefore, we love God truly, we delight in what he 
is, we share in his infinite happiness ; and by divine 
sympathy, his throne of glory becomes ours ; for true love 
rejoices in all the joy of the object it cleaves to. Add to 
this, that, when we love God. we have always^ our hearts' 
desire ; for we love his will, Ins desires become ours, and 
ours are always perfectly resigned to his. ^ow as God 
does whatever he pleases, both in heaven and earth, his 
lovers have always then* hearts' desire, forasmuch as they 
always have his will, which is theirs. Submitting our 
private will to his, is only preferring a greater good to a 
less, as our Lord did in the garden, and we are all called 
to do it in afflictions. Farewell, my dear friend, and excuse 
these reflections, which you could make much better than 
Your humble servant. 

J. F. 

CXLY.— TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY MARY 
FITZGERALD. 

aLudelet. Sept. 29. 1781. 
My Dear and Honoured Friend, — You have been in the 
fire of affliction, where faith is tried, where patient hope is 
exercised, and where perfect love, which casts out fear, and 
endureth all things, is proved worthy of him who made 
bare his breast, and said to his Father, "Lo, I come to 
do thy will, God !" I come to be obedient unto death, 
even the painful, shameful death of the cross. 

Continue to offer your body as a living, or, if it please 
God, as a lingering, dying sacrifice to him, who has de- 
creed, that if we will reign with Christ, we must suffer 
with him. This is our reasonable service : for it would be 
absurd, that our Lord should have been perfected by 
sufferings, thorns, and the cross, and that we should have 
nothing but enjoyment, roses, and a crown. How faithful, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



307 



how merciful is our God He brings you once more from 
the verge of eternity ; well, my dear friend, I welcome you 
back into life, and into the enjoyment of further opportu- 
nities of receiving and doing good, — of growing in grace, 
and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. 

Chastened, spared like you, and more and more con- 
vinced that I am helplessness itself, and that there is help 
laid on our Surety and Saviour for us, I invite you to say 
with me, — " When I am weak, Christ my life is strong 
still ; for me to live shall be Christ, and to die gain." Dear 
madam, to know the bare cross is uncomfortable ; but to 
know and gather the fruit of that tree, is life from the dead, 
it is more abundant life after fainting. Let us then know, 
that is, consider, and embrace Jesus Christ crucified to 
make an end of sin; shedding tears, and his most pre- 
cious blood, to cleanse us from all sin : to trace again the 
divine image, goodness, love, and happiness on our souls, 
and to seal our firm title to glory. " Not a text," say you, 
" came to me, only I knew none perished at his feet." 
Then you remembered Christ, the sum and substance of 
all the Scriptures ; then you believed on him in whom all 
the sweetest texts and all the promises are yea and amen. 
believe more steadily, more confidently. Dare even to 
obey the apostolic precept, " Reckon yourselves dead indeed 
unto sin, but alive unto God by Jesus Christ our Lord." 
Embrace with more earnestness the righteousness of faith, 
and you will have more peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
Rejoice in Christ, your peace : yea, rejoice in God, your 
Saviour; and if there is a needs be for your being in 
heaviness for a season, rejoice in tribulation : " sorrowful, 
but always rejoicing." " When I am destitute of all 
comfort, this shall yield me comfort," saith Kempis, " that 
thy will is done." If Abraham believed in hope against 
hope, — that is, against human, natural hope, — can you not, 
through grace, as a daughter of Abraham, rejoice in hea- 



308 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



venly hope against all natural feelings, and even against all 
temptations ? " Count it all joy," says St. James, "when 
you fall into divers temptations and trials. " Do not be 
afraid of the storm : Christ is in the ship, and he does not 
sleep, as unbelief is apt to fancy. 

I thank you, my dear lady, for your friendly wish of 
leaving your clay here. I return it, by wishing you may 
leave all the body of sin now in that mysterious grotto of 
mount Calvary, where myriads of sinners have buried 
their doubts, their fears, and their old man. Prop up 
your clay a little longer; for I want to sing with you, 
"Salvation to God and the Lamb." I want you to help 
me, with the understanding and the voice, to witness, that 
Jesus saves to the uttermost all 'who come to God through 
him ; that he can not only make an end of sin, but bring 
in an everlasting, triumphant righteousness. 

I am not without hope of seeing you in London before 
you see your future hermitage. Aii my brotherly love 
goes to town, and salutes you and your good nurses, Mrs. 
C , Mrs. , Mrs. , Mrs, L , to whose con- 
tinued care, as well as to that of our Redeemer, I earnestly 
recommend you. 

I am, my dear lady, your obedient, affectionate servant, 

J. F. 

CXLVI. — TO THE HONOURABLE MRS. C . 

Cross-Hall, Yorkshire, Dec. 26, 1781. 
My very Dear Friend, — Your favour of the fourth instant 
did not reach me until a considerable time after date, 
through my being still absent from Madeley, a clergyman 
of this neighbourhood having made an exchange with me, 
to facilitate my settling some affairs of a temporal nature 
in this county. The kind part you take in my happiness 
demands my warmest thanks ; and I beg you will accept 
them, multiplied by those which my dear partner presents 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



309 



to you. Yes, my dear friend, I am married in my old age, 
and have a new opportunity of considering a great mystery 
in the most perfect type of our Lord's mystical union with 
his Church. I have now a new call to pray for a fulness 
of Christ's holy, gentle, meek, loving Spirit, that I may 
love my wife as he loved his spouse, the Church. But the 
emblem is greatly deficient : the Lamb is worthy of his 
spouse, and more than worthy ; whereas I must acknow- 
ledge myself unworthy of the yoke-fellow whom Heaven 
has reserved for me. She is a person after my own heart ; 
and I make no doubt we shall increase the number of the 
happy marriages in the Church Militant. Indeed, they are 
not so many, but it may be worth a Christian's while to 
add one more to the number. God declared that it was 
not good that man, a social being, should live alone, and 
therefore he gave him a help meet for him ; for the same 
reason our Lord sent forth his disciples two and two. Had 
I searched the three kingdoms, I could not have found one 
brother willing to share gratis my weal, wo, and labours, 
and complaisant enough to unite his fortune to mine ; but 
God has found me a partner, a sister, a wife, to use St. 
Paul's language, who is not afraid to face with me the 
colliers and bargemen of my parish until death part us. 

Buried together in our country village, we shall help 
one another to trim our lamps, and wait, as I trust you do 
continually, for the coming of the heavenly Bridegroom. 
Well ; for us the heavenly Child is born ; to us a double 
son is given, and with him the double kingdom of grace 
and glory. O, my dear friends, let us press into, and meet 
in, both of these kingdoms. Our Surety and Saviour is the 
way and the door into them ; and, blessed be free grace, 
the way is free as the king's highway, and the door open, 
like the arms of Jesus crucified. 

January 1, 1782. — I live, blessed be God, to devote 
myself again to his blessed service, in this world, or in the 



310 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



next, and to wish my dear friends all the blessings of a 
year of jubilee. Whatever this year brings forth, may it 
bring us the fullest measures of salvation attainable on earth, 
and the most complete preparation for heaven. I have a 
solemn call to gird my loins, and keep my lamp burning. 
Strangely restored to health and strength, considering my 
years, by the good nursing of my dear partner, I ventured 
to preach of late as often as I did formerly ; and, after 
having read prayers and preached twice on Christmas-day, 
&c, I did last Sunday what I had never done, — I continued 
doing duty from ten till past four in the afternoon, owing 
to christenings, churchings, and the sacrament, which I ad- 
ministered to a church full of people ; so that I was obliged 
to go from the communion-table to begin the evening ser- 
vice, and then to visit some sick. This has brought back 
upon me one of my old dangerous symptoms ; so that I 
had flattered myself in vain to do the whole duty of my 
own parish. My dear wife is nursing me with the tenderest 
care ; gives me up to God with the greatest resignation ; 
and helps me to rejoice, that life and death, health and 
sickness, work all for our good, and are all ours, as blessed 
instruments to forward us in our journey to heaven. We 
intend to set out for Madeley to-morrow. The prospect of 
a winter's journey is not sweet ; but the prospect of meet- 
ing you, and your dear sister, and lady Mary, and Mrs. 

L — '■ — , and Mrs. G , and all our other companions in 

tribulation in heaven, is delightful. The Lord prepare and 
fit us for that glorious meeting ! As soon as I reach 
Madeley, I shall write to lady Mary. Give my best re- 
spects to her, to our dear sister, and to the ladies I have 
just named ; and believe me to be, my dear friend and 
fellow-traveller to Zion, 

Your most obliged and affectionate servant, J. F. 

P. S. If Lady Huntingdon be in London, I would beg 
you to present my duty to her, with my best wishes. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 311 



CXLVII. — TO THE RT. HON. LADY MARY FITZGERALD. 

Madeley, Jan., 1782. 
I thank you, my lady, for your kind congratulations on 
my marriage. The Lord has indeed blessed me with a 
partner after my own heart, dead to the world, and want- 
ing, as well as myself, to be filled with all the life of God. 
She joins me in dutiful thanks to your ladyship for your 
obliging remembrance of her in your kind letter ; and will 
help me to welcome you to the little hermitage we spoke 
of last year in London, if your ladyship's health or taste 
should call you to retire for awhile from the hurry of the 
town. 

What a difference between the court of the King of 
kings and that of King George ! How peaceable the former ! 
how full of hurry the latter ! The Prince himself welcomes 
us, and manifests himself to us as Prince of peace, as Em- 
manuel, "God with us." He will even bring his kingdom 
and keep his court in our hearts. If we open them by the 
attention and recollection of faith, he will even sup with us, 
and make us taste the sweetness of that bread which came 
down from heaven, and the virtue of the blood which 
cleanses from all sin. That this may be our constant expe- 
rience, and that of our dear companions in tribulation in St. 
James's Place, is the sincere and frequent wish of, my lady, 
Your most obliged and obedient servant, 

J. F. 

CXLVIIL— -TO THE SAME. 

Madeley. Aug. 28, 1782. 
My Honoured Friend, — Grace, mercy, and humble love 
be multiplied to you from God our Father, and from our 
Lord Jesus Christ, through the eternal Spirit, in whose 
name we were baptized into the body of the Church, the 



312 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



spouse of the Son of God. The Lord has peculiar favours 
in store for your ladyship and for me : the proof is, that we 
are afflicted. Have you been in a weak state of health ? I 
have had the honour to drink of your cup : the influenza 
has laid me down, but the Lord has raised me up again ; 
and when I was partly well, I broke my shin accidentally 
(should I not say providentially ?) against a bench, and the 
consequence was my being confined by a bad leg to my 
bed, whence I write these lines. may they be lines of 
consolation to my dear friend ! May the God of all grace, 
who comforts unworthy me, rejoice your oppressed heart, and 
make it overflow with his patient love and sanctifying truth. 

You still complain of vile self. I wish you joy for your 
knowing your enemy. Let vile self be reduced to order, 
and, though he be a bad master, he will become an ex- 
cellent servant. If you say, " How shall I do this?" I 
reply, By letting the Lord, the Maker, the Preserver, the 
Redeemer, the Lover of your soul, ascend upon the throne 
of your thoughts, will, and affections. Who deserves to 
engross and fill them better than he does ? Is he not your 
first Lord, your best Husband, your most faithful Friend, 
and your greatest Benefactor ? If you say, " I do not see 
him ;" I reply that you never saw the soul of any of your 
friends ; nor do you see even the body of him you call 
your "idol." O! allow Jehovah, the Supreme Being, to 
be to you what he deserves to be, — all in all. One lively 
act of faith, one assent and consent to this delightful truth, 
that your Father who is in heaven loves you a thousand 
times more than you love your idol, (for God's love is like 
himself, infinite and boundless,) will set your heart at liber- 
ty, and even make it dance for joy. What if, to this ravish- 
ing consideration, you add the transporting truth, that the 
Son of God, fairer than the sons of men, and brighter than 
angels, has loved you unto death — to the death of the 
cross ; and loves you still more than ail yonr friends do, 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 313 

were their love collected into one heart : could yon help 
thinking, with a degree of joyous gratitude, of such an in- 
stance of divine condescension ? ~No ; your vile self would 
be ennobled, raised, expanded, and set at liberty by this 
evangelical thought : and if you did not destroy this divine 
conception ; if you nourished this little degree of the love 
of Christ; Emmanuel, the God of love, would be more 
fully manifested in you, and salvation would, from this mo- 
ment, grow in your soul. Jesus would grow in your believ- 
ing, loving heart ; self would be nobody ; Emmanuel would 
be all in all ; and lady Mary would share all the happiness, 
and ere long all the glory, of that favoured virgin whom 
all the nations shall call "blessed." You bear her name ; 
let her Son, by the incorruptible seed of the word, be also 
formed in you through faith ; and you will be so taken up 
by this wonder of divine love, so employed in praising your 
Father's mercy, and Saviour's love and tenderness, that you 
will have but little time to speak either of good or bad 
self. When self is forgotten as nothing before God, you 
put self in its proper place ; and you make room for the 
heavenly Being, whose holy and happy existence you are 
to shadow out. 

If you have left off attending on the princess, attend on 
the Prince of peace with double diligence. If you have 
been wanting in that sweet and honourable duty, it is be- 
cause the enemy has told you lies of your Saviour, and has 
cast a veil over the love of his heart and the beauty of his 
face. See the snare and avoid it. 

Shall we ever have the honour of seeing you, my lady ? 
My wife, who joins in respectful love and thanks to your 
ladyship for your remembrance of her, says she will do her 
best to render our cold house safe for you, if not convenient. 
You would have had a repeated invitation from us, if fear, 
and a concern for your health, heightened by the bad 
weather, had not checked our desires to have an opportu- 

14 



314 PASTORAL AiND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



nity of assuring you here how much we are devoted to your 
service ; but the roads and the weather beginning to amend, 
we venture to offer you the best apartment in our hermitage. 

I wish it were large enough to take in dear Mrs. G and 

our dear friends in St. James's Place ; but we have only 
two small rooms : to which, however, you would be received 
with two enlarged hearts ; — I mean, those of, my honoured 
lady, your ladyship's obedient, devoted servants, 

J. and M. F. 

CXLIX. — TO THE KEY. CHARLES WESLEY. 

Madelet, Dec. 19, 1782. 
Rev. and Dear Sir, — I thank you for your hint about ex- 
emplifying the love of Christ in his Church. I hope we 
do. I was afraid at first to say much of the matter ; for 
new-married people do not at first know each other ; but 
having now lived fourteen months in my new state, I can 
tell you Providence has reserved a prize for me, and that 
my wife is far better to me than the Church to Christ ; so 
that if the parallel fail, it will be on my side. 

Be so good as to peruse the enclosed sheets. Mr. De 
Luc, to whom they are addressed, is reader to the queen, 
and the author of some volumes of letters to her : he is a 
true philosopher. I flatter myself he will present my let- 
ter to the queen. Do you find anything improper in the 
addition I have made to my poem? I wish I were near 
you for your criticisms : you would direct me, both as a poet 
and a Frenchman. 

I have yet strength enough to do my parish duty with- 
out the help of a curate. O that the Lord would help me 
to do it acceptably and profitably ! The colliers began to 
rise in this neighbourhood : happily, the cockatrice's egg was 
crushed before the serpent came out. However, I got many 
a hearty curse from the colliers for the plain words I spoke 
on that occasion. I want to see days of power, both within 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 315 



and without ; but, in the mean time, I would follow closely 
my light in the narrow path. My wife joins me in respect- 
ful love to Mrs. Wesley and yourself ; and, requesting an 
interest in your prayers for us, 

I remain, my dear sir, your affectionate, obliged brother, 
servant, and son in the gospel, 

J. F. 

CL.— TO MKS. THORNTON. 

Madeley, March 3, 1783. 
My Dear Friend, — Yesterday I received your melancholy, 
joyful letter, as I came from the sacrament, where the 
grace of God had armed me to meet the awful news. And 
is my merciful host gone to reap the fruit of his mercy to 
me ? I thought I should have been permitted to go first, 
and welcome him into everlasting habitations ; but Provi- 
dence has ordered it otherwise, and I am left behind to say, 
with you and dear Mrs. Greenwood, 04 The Lord gave, and 
has taken away, and blessed be his holy name P 

The glory with which his setting sun was gilded is the 
greatest comfort by which Heaven could alleviate his loss. 
Let me die as he did, and let my last end be like his ! I 
was so sensibly affected by your account, that I could not 
help reading part of your letter at church in the afternoon, 
and desiring all the congregation to join me in thanksgiving 
for the late mercies He had vouchsafed to my generous 
benefactor. On such occasions let sighs be lost in praise ; 
and repining in humble submission and thankful acqui- 
escence. I hope dear Mrs. Greenwood mixes a tear of joy 
with a tear of sorrow. Who would not be landed on the 
other side the stream of time, if he were sure of such a 
passage ? Who would wish his best friend back on the 
shores of sorrow so triumphantly left by Mr. Greenwood ? 

I hope Mr. Thomas Greenwood, and his brother Josiah, 
have been rooted and grounded in their good purposes by 



816 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



their dying father's exhortations and charges. Pray, give 
my kindest love to them both, and tell them I join my en- 
treaties to his, that they would take to and keep in the 
way that brought their parent peace and joy at the last. 

So Mr. and Mrs. Perronet are no more, and Lazarus is 
still alive ! What scenes does this world afford ! But the 
most amazing is certainly that of Emmanuel crucified, and 
offering us pardons and crowns of glory. May we ever 
gaze at that wonderful object, until it has formed us into 
love, peace, and joy ! We thank you for the sweet name 
you still call us by ; and we heartily take the hint, and 
subscribe ourselves your affectionate, grateful friends, and 
ready servants in Christ, 

J. and M. F. 

CLL — TO THE EIGHT HON. LADY MAKY FITZGERALD. 

Dublin, Aug. 23, 1783. 
Honoured and Dear Madam, — I see the truth of those 
words of our Lord, " In me ye shall have peace," comfort, 
strength, and joy. Be of good cheer. We came here to 
see the members of our Lord, and we find you removed, 
and removing farther still than you now are. What does 
this Providence teach us ? I learn, that I must rejoice in 
the Lord above all his members, and find them all in Him 
who. fills all in all ; who is the life of all our friends, the 
joy of all our brethren. If our Lord is your life, your 
strength, and your all, you will remove in vain to the north 
or south ; you cannot go from your spiritual friends ; they 
will meet you in the common centre of all life and right- 
eousness ; there they will bless you, rejoice in your joy, and 
sympathize in your sorrow. 

If Providence call you to England by Scotland, by which 
route your ladyship apprehends so much difficulty, you 
know we must, at least, go to heaven by a way equally 
painful, — the narrow way, the way marked with blood, and 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



317 



with the tears and cross of the Son of God ; and if we fol- 
low him weeping, we shall return with everlasting joy on 
our heads. Even now the foretaste of those joys is given 
to us through hope ; for by hope we are saved. Let our 
faith and hope be in God ; rooted and grounded in him 
who gives vital heat to our hearts, and who fans there the 
spark of grace which his mercy has kindled ; and may that 
spark, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, become a fire 
of holy love, heavenly zeal, and heavenly glory ! Such 
power belongeth to the Almighty. He that spared not his 
own Son, and has promised us his Holy Spirit, which is the 
mighty stream of his grace, and the mighty flame of his 
love, will not deny us that power, if we wait for it in his 
appointed ways, and ask it in the all-prevailing name of 
"Emmanuel, God with us." 

My dear partner, who, like myself, is deeply sensible of 
your ladyship's kindness in remembering us, joins me in 
thanks for your obliging note, and in cordial wishes that all 
the desires of your believing soul may be granted you, both 
for time, death, and eternity. We subscribe ourselves, with 
grateful sincerity, honoured madam, 

Your devoted servants in our bleeding Lord, 

J. and M. F. 

CLIL— TO WILLIAM SMYTH, ESQ. 

Madeley, Nov., 1783. 
Dear Sir, — The many and great favours you have loaded 
us with, during our long stay under your hospitable roof, 
prompted us to make the earliest acknowledgment of our 
obligations, and to beg you would receive our warmest 
thanks for such unexpected and undeserved tokens of your 
brotherly love. But the desire of filling our only frank 
has hindered their being more early traced upon paper; 
though they have been, are now, and, we trust, shall ever 
be, deeply engraven on our hearts. You have united for 



318 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



us the Irish hospitality, the English cordiality, and the 
French politeness. And now, sir, what shall we say? 
Tou are our generous benefactor, and we are your affec- 
tionate though unprofitable servants. In one sense, we 
are on a level with those to whom you show charity in the 
streets ; we can do nothing but pray for you, your dear 
partner, and yours. You kindly received us for Christ's 
sake : may God receive you freely for his sake also ! You 
have borne with our infirmities : the Lord bear with yours 
afeo ! You have let your servant serve us ; the Lord give 
all his servants and his angels charge concerning you, that 
you hurt not your foot against a stone, and may be helped 
out of every difficulty. You have given us a most pleasing 
resting-place, and comfortable apartment under your roof, 
and next your own chamber : the Lord grant you eternal 
rest with him in his heavenly mansions ! May he himself 
be your habitation and resting-place forever, and place you 
and yours with his own jewels, in the choicest repository 
of preeious things ! You have fed us with the richest food : 
may the Giver of every perfect gift fit you for a place at 
his table, and may you rank there with Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob. You have given us wines : may you drink 
with Christ himself the fruit of the vine, new in your 
Father's kingdom ! You have given us a rich provision for 
the way : when you cross the flood, the deep flood of death, 
may you find that your heavenly Lord has made such a rich 
provision of faith, righteousness, hope, and joy for you, that 
you may rejoice, triumph, and sing, while you leave your 
earthly friends to go home ; — which, by the by, is more 
than we were enabled to do ; for, instead of singing in our 
cabins, there was very different melody. 

However, we could soon, with grateful, joyful hearts, 
look back from the British to the Irish shore, and greet in 
spirit the dear friends we had left there. The Lord bless 
and increase them in spiritual, and, if best for them, in 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 319 

temporal goods also! The Lord crown them and theirs 
with loving-kindness, and mercies equal to the love of our 
God and the merits of our Saviour ! And now, dear sir, 
what shall I add? I cannot now even see my Bible but 
through the medium of your love, and the token with 
which it alternately loads my pocket and my hand. I 
cannot even seal a letter with a good wafer, but I find a 
new call to repeat my thanks to you. I would begin 
again, but my scrap of paper is full, as well as my heart ; 
and I must spare a line to tell you, that I had the pleasure 
of seeing our kind benefactress, Mrs. Smyth, safe at 
Bristol, with her little charge, and lady Mary. We beg 
our thanks to John, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, and all who 
were kind to us for Christ's sake and for yours. 

We remain, dear sir, your most affectionate and most 
obliged pensioners and servants, 

J. and M. F. 

CLIIL— TO THE SOCIETY IN DUBLIN. 

Madeley, Nov., 1783. 
To all the dear brethren who, after kindly inviting John 
and Mary Fletcher, patiently bearing with them and their 
infirmities, and entertaining them in the most hospitable, 
Christian manner, have added to all their former favours, 
that of thanking them for their most pleasant and profitable 
journey, — 

Brethren and Dearly Beloved in the Lord, — We had 
felt shame enough under the sense of your kindness and 
patience toward us, and of our unprofitableness toward 
you, when at Dublin. You needed not have added to our 
shame by the new token of your love, — the friendly letter 
we have received from you. We are indebted to you, 
dear brethren, we owed you the letter of thanks you have 
gratuitously sent. But in all things you will have the pre- 



320 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



eminence ; and we are glad to drink the cup of humility at 
your feet. May the Lord, who can part a sea by the 
touch of a rod, and could at first cause the earth to bring 
forth abundantly all manner of trees and plants without 
seed, so bless the seed of the word which we sowed in 
great weakness among you, as to make it produce a full 
crop of humble repentance, cheerful faith, triumphant hope, 
and the sanctifying influences of God's Spirit in your 
hearts, in all your families, in all your assemblies, and in 
your whole society ! If your profuse liberality toward us 
abounded to the comfort of our poor brethren, we doubly 
rejoice, on your account and on theirs. 

When we see so many of your dear names, we rejoice 
in hopes that, as they fill and confirm an epistle dictated 
by overflowing love, so they are enrolled on the list of the 
dear people whom our great High Priest bears, not on the 
breastplate, as Aaron, but on his bleeding hands and in his 
very heart, which is the overflowing and everflowing foun- 
tain of divine and brotherly love. We cannot remember 
your faces ; we remember what will last longer than your 
features, — your work and labour*, your repasts of love, 
together with your prayers and sighs. May that seed 
sown be watered by the Redeemer's blood ! We ask it 
with tears of gratitude and joy, while we, on our bended 
knees, spread your names, as you have kindly put them, 
and your wants, so far as we remember them, before the 
Father of mercies, and the Author of every perfect gift. 
Let our worthless names still find a place in your memory, 
when you remember your brethren distant in the flesh, but 
near in the Spirit : among such vouchsafe to reckon, 

Dear brethren, your very affectionate and truly obliged 
servants in Christ, J. and M. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



321 



CLIV. — TO MRS. DOLIER. 

Madeley, Nov., 1783. 
And were my dear brother and sister Dolier pleased by 
the receipt of a letter from such an unworthy worm ? O 
that I could convey some word from the mouth of my 
adorable Lord to your hearts ! that he would permit 
me, his poor creature, to drop a sentence which might 
prove an encouragement to my dear friends in their way ! 
You ask, " Shall I hope to attain the clean heart, and 
walk in purity, while here below ?" Why not ? " Abraham 
hoped against hope, and there sprang from him, as good 
as dead, as the stars of heaven for multitude. " Does un- 
belief say, " Thou art dead ; thou hast outstayed thy day, 
and it is all over ?" Then, arise out of the dust ; rouse up 
all your powers ; against hope believe in hope, and by faith 
receive strength to apprehend the fulness of God. Re- 
member Christ is in your faith ; hold faith, and you hold 
Christ. If you know not how to get hold on faith, remem- 
ber it is in the promise : seek for a promise, and lay hold 
there. But if you cry out, " I see the links of the chain so 
far off, that, alas ! I cannot take hold on the promise ; I 
do not know which is for me, I cannot reach so far," — well, 
do not faint yet ; there is another link still lower, that is to 
say, your wants. Can you be sure there is a wound 
within? are you certain you are a sinner? Well, then, 
reach your hand hither : " I came not to call the righteous, 
but sinners." Are you a helpless sinner ? — " To them who 
have no might, he increaseth strength." Are you an 
ungrateful, backsliding sinner ? — Hear Him say, " Thou 
hast played the harlot with many lovers : but return unto 
me, saith the Lord." And if you doubt whether you may 
believe for a great measure of holiness ; whether your soul, 
already in old age and barren, shall believe for abundant 

14* 



822 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



fruitfulness ; answer yourself, my dear friend, from that 
word: " Whosoever will, let him come, and take of the 
water of life freely." I have just told Mrs. Smyth of one 
of your sisters here, once a deeper unbeliever than your- 
self, but now quite full of God : I refer you to her letter. 
O my God, in mercy let thy power rest on thy dear ser- 
vants ! Convey, even by this poor scrawl, some power to 
their hearts, some fresh light into the mighty chain which 
begins with man's wickedness, hangs on God's mercy in 
the promises, is continued by faith and victory springing 
therefrom, and ends with Christ's fulness becoming all in 
all. We pray the God of love to be with your children, 
and all who meet with them. Tell sister Hammond to 
keep hold of the chain : it shall draw her into the holy of 
holies. 

With our kindest and most grateful remembrance of 
you both, we remain, your sincere but unworthy friends, 

J. and M. F. 

CLV. — TO MR. HENRY BROOKE. 

Madelet, April 27, 1784. 
My Dear Brother,— Mercy, peace, and perfect love at- 
tend you, your dear partner, and the dear friends under 
your roof, with whom I beg you may abide under the cross, 
till, with John, Mary, and Salome, &c, you all can say, 
" We are crucified with him ; and the life we now live, we 
live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave 
himself for us." 

You are certainly right, when you prefer the inward to 
the outward ; the former is the safer ; but both together 
make up the beauty of holiness. The inward life may be 
compared to the husband, the outward to the fruitful wife : 
"what God hath joined together, let no man," nor even 
angel, "put asunder." 

With respect to the glory of the Lord, "it is at hand," 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



323 



whatever false wisdom and unbelief may whisper to our 
hearts : it can be no farther off than the presence of Him 
who fills all in all. Our wrong notions of things are a 
main hindrance to our stepping into it ; and perhaps our 
minding more the cherubims of glory, than the plain tables 
and the manna hid in the ark. " There is a passing," says 
Bromley, " from the outward to the inward, and from the 
inward to the inmost ; and it is only from the inmost that 
we can see the Lord's spiritual glory." Pray, my dear 
brother, when you get so fixed in the inmost, as not to lose 
sight of Him who dwells in the light and in the thick dark- 
ness, let me share your joy. Love will make me partake 
of your happiness. 

With respect to what you say of the kingdom not coming 
with the outward pomp which is discoverable by the men 
of the world, it is strictly true ; but that there is an inward 
display of power and glory under pentecostal Christianity 
is undeniable, both from our Lord's promises to his disci- 
ples, and from their experiences, after the kingdom was 
come to them with power. It is sometimes suggested to 
me, that, as the apostasy hath chiefly consisted in going 
after the pomp of the whore of Babylon, so that while the 
woman who fled into the wilderness remains there as a widow, 
she must be deprived even of those true ornaments, and of 
that spiritual glory, which were bestowed upon her on the 
day of Pentecost, the day of her espousals. I do not, 
however, close in with the suggestion, as I am not sure that 
it cannot come from Satan transformed into an angel of 
light, to rob me of a bright jewel of my Christian hope. 
To wait in deep resignation, and with a constant attention 
to what the Lord will please to do or say concerning us 
and his Church, and to leave to him the times and the sea- 
sons, is what I am chiefly called to do ; taking care in the 
mean while of falling into either ditch : I mean, into specu- 
lation, which is careless of action ; or into the activity which 



321 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



is devoid of spirituality. I would not have a lamp without 
oil ; and I could not have oil without a lamp, and a vessel 
to hold it in for myself, and to communicate it to others. 

I thank you, my dear friend, for the books you have sent 
me. I read with great pleasure Ramsay's theological 
works, which were quite unknown to me. My good wishes 
attend both your brothers. 

Fare you all well in Christ : so prays, 

J. F. 

CLVI. — TO MRS. GREENWOOD. 

Madelet, June 20, 1 784. 
My Dear Friend, — I shall never forget the mercy which 
the living and the dead have showed me ; but the sight of 
Mr. Greenwood in his son has brought some of my New- 
ington scenes fresh to my remembrance, and I beg leave to 
convey my tribute of thanks back by his hands. Thanks ! 
Thanks ! What, nothing but words ? Here is my humbling 
case. I wish to requite your manifold kindness, but I can- 
not ; and so I must be satisfied to be ever your insolvent 
debtor. Nature and grace do not love it. Proud nature 
lies uneasy under great obligations ; and thankful grace 
would be glad to put something in the scale opposite to 
that which you have filled with so many favours. But what 
shall I put? I wish I could send you all the Bank of 
England, and all the gospel of Christ ; but the first is not 
mine, and the second is already yours: so, praying the 
Lord Jesus to make up my deficiencies with you, as he has 
done with his Father, I remain, your still unprofitable and 
still obliged Lazarus, J. F. 

CLVII. — TO JAMES IRELAND, ESQ. 

Madelet, Sept. 13, 1784. 
My Dear Friend, — Surely the Lord keeps us both in 
slippery places, that we may still sit loose to all below. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 325 



Let us do so more and more, and make the best of those 
days which the Lord grants us to finish the work he has 
given us to do. let us fall in with the gracious designs 
of his providence ; trim our lamps, gird our loins, and pre- 
pare to escape to the heavenly shore, as Paul did when he 
saw the leaky ship ready to go to the bottom, and made 
himself ready to swim to land. 

I keep in my sentry-box till Providence removes me. My 
situation is quite suited to my little strength. I may do as 
much or as little as I please, according to my weakness ; 
and I have an advantage, which I can have nowhere else 
in such a degree, — my little field of action is just at my 
own door, so that if I happen to overdo myself, I have but 
a step from my pulpit to my bed, and from my bed to my 
grave. I wish brother Tandy joy about opposition : this 
must be ; and the more of it, the more will the word of 
God prevail. If I had a body full of vigour, and a purse full 
of money, I should like well enough to travel about as Mr. 
Wesley does ; but as Providence does not call me to it, I 
readily submit. The snail does best in its shell : were it to 
aim at galloping like the race-horse, it would be ridiculous 
indeed. I thank God, my wife (who joins me in thanks to 
you for your kind offer) is quite of my mind with respect 
to the call we have to a sedentary life. We are two poor 
invalids, who between us make half a labourer. 

We shall have tea cheap, and light very dear. I do not 
admire the exchange. Twenty thousand chambers walled 
up, and filled with foul air, are converted into so many 
dungeons for the industrious artisan, who, being compelled 
by this murderous tax, denies himself the benefit of light 
and air. Blessed be God, the light of heaven and the air 
of the spiritual world are still free : may we open doors and 
windows to let them into our souls, which shall be purified 
and enlightened by these heavenly guests. 

My dear partner sweetly helps me to drink the dregs of 



326 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



life, and to carry with ease the daily cross. Neither she 
nor I are long for this world : we see it, we feel it, and, 
by looking at death and his Conqueror, we fight, before- 
hand, our last battle, with that last enemy, whom our Lord 
hath overcome for us. That we may triumph over him 
with an humble, Christian courage, is the prayer of, my 
dear friend, yours, 

J. F. 

CLVIII. — TO MR. JOHN FENNEL. 

Madelet, Nov. 28, 1784. 
Dear John, — I rejoice to hear that you think of a better 
world, and of the better part, which Mary and your late 
mother, another Mary, chose before you. May all her 
prayers, but, above all, may the dew of heaven, come down 
upon your soul in solemn thoughts, heavenly desires, and 
strong resolutions to be the Lord's, cost what it will. Let 
the language of your heart and lips be, at any rate, "I 
will be a follower of Christ ; yea, a member of his, a child 
of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." A 
noble promise this ! and of which I have so peculiar a right 
to put you in mind. But, in order to be this happy and 
holy soul, you must not forget that your Ghristian name, 
your Christian vows, and ten thousand reasons besides, 
bind you to turn your back upon the world, the flesh, and 
the devil ; and to set yourself steadfastly to look to the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to your Creator, Redeemer, 
and Sanctifier. 

My dear John, you have no time to lose. We have calls 
here to the young without end : they die fast. I lately 
buried two brothers and sisters in the same grave. Be you 
also ready. I was some nights ago praying for you on my 
bed, in my sleepless hours ; and I asked for you the faith 
of righteous Abel, the chastity of Joseph, the early piety 
of Samuel, the right choice of young Solomon, the self- 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 327 



denial and abstinence of Daniel, together with the zeal and 
undaunted courage of his three friends. But, above all, I 
asked that you might follow John the Baptist, and John the 
Apostle, as they followed our Lord. Back earnestly, con- 
stantly, back nay prayer. So shall you be faithful, diligent, 
and godly ; a blessing to all around you ; and a comfort to 
your affectionate old friend and minister, 

J. F. 

CLIX.— TO MRS. THORNTON. 

Madelet, Jan. 21, 1785. 
My Dear Friend, — I cannot express how much I was con- 
cerned at hearing of Mr. Greenwood's illness : my poor 
prayers have heartily attended him. I want much to hear 
of his better state of health. Give mine and my wife's 
kindest love to him ; and should change of air, now the 
spring is coming on, be likely to be of service to him, we 
desire both him, and you, and Mrs. Greenwood, to remem- 
ber that you have at Madeley a country retreat, free from 
the noise of London, and the hurry of business, where we 
should be glad to have an opportunity of requiting the 
kindness showed to me both by the living and the dead. 

that the Lord would make both his cup and yours run 
over! Between the living and the dead, (being dying 
worms ourselves,) what manner of people ought we to be 
in our generation? If we cannot be what we would — 
burning and shining lights, showing forth the glory, the 
mercy, and the love of our Lord, as those who flame with 
indefatigable zeal, and run a race of immense labours — let 
us at least lie meekly at Christ's feet, as Mary, or patiently 
hang on the cross, as our common Lord. 

1 want much to know how you all do in soul and body : 
as for me, I make just shift to fill up my little sentry-box, 
by the help of my dear partner. Had we more strength, 
we should have opportunity enough to exert it. O that we 



328 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



were but truly faithful in our little place ! Your great 
stage of London is too high for people of little ability and 
little strength; and therefore we are afraid of venturing 
upon it, lest the consequence should be bringing new bur- 
dens on our generous friends. We should be glad to rise 
high in usefulness ; but God, who needs us not, calls us to 
sink in deep resignation and humility. His will be done I 
That God would bless you with all his choicest blessings, 
for time and eternity, is the sincere prayer of, my dear 
friends, your obliged' servants, 

J. and M. F. 

CLX. — TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY MARY 
FITZGERALD. 

Madeley. Feb. 11, 1785. 
Mercy, righteousness, peace, and joy, be multiplied to 
dear lady Mary, and to all who are dear and near unto her, 
from the Father of mercies, through the Son of his bound- 
less love, and through the Spirit of infinite love, which the 
Father breathes continually toward the Son, and the Son 
toward the Father ! So prays John Fletcher. And who 
are we, my lady, that we should not be swallowed up by 
this holy, loving, living Spirit, which fills heaven and earth ? 
If we could exclude him from our hearts, we might vilely 
set up self, in opposition to Him who is all in all. But 
whether we consider it or not, there he is, a true, holy, 
loving, merciful God. Assent to it, my lady ; believe it, 
rejoice in it. Let him be God, all .in all; your God in 
Christ Jesus ; your brother, who is flesh of your flesh, bone 
of your bone ; your surety, who payeth all your debt, in 
whom the Father was reconciling you and us unto himself, 
and in whom we are accepted. What an ocean of love to 
swim in, — to dive into ! Do not be afraid to venture, and 
to plunge with all yours ; especially our dear friends in St. 

James's Place, Mrs. G and Mrs. L- , &c. 

I am, &c, J. F. 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 329 



CLXL— TO THE SAME. 

Madeley, July 20, 1785. 
Hon. and Dear Lady, — We have received your kind 
letter, and mournfully acquiesced in the will of out' heavenly 
Father, who, by various infirmities and providences, weans 
us from ourselves and our friends, that we may be his 
without reserve. It was, perhaps, a peculiar mercy that 
Providence blocked up your way to this place this sum- 
mer. A bad putrid fever carries off several people in these 
parts. Two of our neighbours died of it last week : and 
my wife, who had visited them, was taken in so violent a 
manner that I was obliged to offer her up to God in good 
earnest, as an oblation worthy a son of Abraham. I hope 
the worst is over ; but her weakness will long preach to 
me, as well as my own. Dying people, we live in the 
midst of dying people. let us live in sight of a dying, 
rising Saviour ; and the prospect of death will become first 
tolerable, and then joyous ! Or, if we weep, as our Lord, 
at the grave of our friends, or at the side of their deathbeds, 
we shall triumph in hope that all will be for the glory of 
God, and the good of our souls. 

I am, my dear lady, &c, J. F. 

CLXII— TO MR. HENRY BROOKE. 

Madeley, Feb. 28, 1785. 
My Dear Brother, — We are all shadows. Your mortal 
parent hath passed away ; and we pass away after him. 
Blessed be the Author of eveiy good and perfect gift for 
the shadow of his eternal paternity, displayed to us in our 
deceased parents. What was good, loving, and lovely in 
them, is hid with Christ in God, where we may still enjoy 
it implicitly, and where we shall explicitly enjoy it, when 
he shall appear. A lesson I learn daily is, to see things 



330 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



and persons in their invisible root, and in their eternal 
principle ; where they are not subject to change, decay, 
and death; but where they blossom and shine in the 
primeval excellence allotted them by their gracious Crea- 
tor. By this means, I learn to walk by faith, and not by 
sight ; but, like a child, instead of walking straight and firm 
in this good spiritual way, I am still apt to cling here or 
there ; which makes me cry, " Lord, let me see all things 
more clearly, that I may never mistake a shadow for the 
substance, nor put any creature, no, not for a moment, in 
the place of the Creator ; who deserves to be loved, ad- 
mired, and sought after, with all the powers of our souls !" 

Tracing his image in all the footsteps of nature, or look- 
ing for the divine signature on every creature, as we should 
look for the king's image on an old rusty medal, is true 
philosophy ; and to find out that which is of God in our- 
selves is the true wisdom, — genuine godliness. I hope you 
will never be afraid nor ashamed of it. I see no danger 
in these studies and meditations, provided we still keep the 
end in view, — the all of God, and the shadowy nothingness 
of all that is visible. 

With respect to the great pentecostal display of the 
Spirit's glory, I still look for it within and without ; and 
to look for it aright is the lesson I am learning. I am now 
led to be afraid of that in my nature which would be for 
pomp, show, and visible glory. I am afraid of falling by 
such an expectation into what I call "a spiritual Juda- 
izing," — into a looking for Christ's coming in my own pom- 
pous conceit, which might make me reject him, if his 
wisdom, to crucify mine, chose to come in a meaner way ; 
and if, instead of coming in his Father's glory, he chose to 
come meek, riding, not on the cherubim, but on the foal of 
an ass. Our Saviour said, with respect to his going to the 
feast, " My time is not yet come :" whether his time to 
come and turn the thieves and buyers out of the outward 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 331 



Church is yet come, I know not. I doubt Jerusalem and 
the holy place are yet given to be trodden under foot by 
the Gentiles. But my Jerusalem ! why it is not swallowed 
up of the glory of that which comes down from heaven, is 
a question which I wait to be solved by the teaching of the 
great Prophet, who is alone possessed of Urim and Thum- 
mim. The mighty power to wrestle with him is all divine ; 
and I often pray, — 

" That mighty faith on me bestow 

Which cannot ask in vain. 
Which holds, and will not let thee go 

Till I my suit obtain ; 
Till thou into my soul inspire 

That perfect love unknown, 
And tell my infinite desire 7 

Whate'er thou wilt be done." 

In short, the Lord crucifies my wisdom and my will every 
way; but I must be cmcified as the thieves. "AM my 
bones must be broken for there is still in me that impa- 
tience of wisdom which would stir when the tempter says, 
" Come down from the cross." It is not for us to know 
the times and seasons, the manner and mystical means of 
God's working ; but only to hunger and thirst, and he pas- 
sive before the great Potter. In short, I begin to be con- 
tent to be a vessel of clay or of wood, so I may be emptied 
of self, and filled with my God, my all. Do not give up 
your confident hope : it saves still secretly, and hath a 
present, and, by and by, will have a great recompense of 
reward. 

I am glad, exceeding glad, that your dear partner goes 
on simply and behevingly. Such a companion is a great 
blessing, if you know how to make use of it. For when 
two of you shall agree touching one thing in prayer, it shall 
be done. My wife and I endeavour to fathom the mean- 
ing of that deep promise : join your line to ours, and let 



332 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



us search what, after all, exceeds knowledge ; — I mean, 
the wisdom and the power, the love and faithfulness of 
God. 

My wife and I embrace you both ; and pray you would 
help one another and us by your prayers. 

Adieu. "Be God's," as the French say; and see God 
yours in Christ, for you and for all our dear brethren. 
We are your obliged friends, J. and M. F. 

CLXIII. — TO MR. MELVILL HORNE. 

Madeley, May 10, 1785. 
Dear Brother, — I am sorry you should have been imeasy 
about the books : I received them safely, after they had 
lain for some time at Salop. I seldom look into any book 
but my Bible ; not out of contempt, as if I thought they 
could not teach me what I do not know : but because vita 
brevis, ars longa. I may never look into either of them 
again. 

Go on improving yourself by reading, but above all by 
meditation and prayer : and allow our Lord to refine you 
in the fire of temptation. Where you see a want, at home 
or abroad, within or without, look upon that want as a 
warning, to avoid the cause of the leanness you perceive, 
and a call to secure the blessings which are ready to take 
their flight ; for sometimes true riches, like those of tins 
world, make themselves wings and flee away : the hea- 
venly dove may be grieved, and take its flight to humbler 
and more peaceful roofs. I am glad you do not want 
hard or violent measures : I hope you never will counte- 
nance them, no, not against what you dislike. I believe 
things will turn out very well at the Conference, and I shall 
be a witness of it, if the Lord of the harvest gives me a 
commission to be a spectator of the order and quietness of 
those who shall be there: if not, I shall help you by 



PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 



333 



prayer to draw from far the blessing of love upon our 
friends. 

In being moderate, bumble, and truly desirous to be a 
Christian, that is, to be the least, the last, and the servant 
of all, we avoid running ourselves into difficulties, we escape 
many temptations, and many mortifying disappointments. 
For my part, as I expect nothing from men, they cannot 
disappoint me ; and as I expect all good things from God, 
in the time, way, measure, and manner it pleaseth him to 
bestow, here I cannot be disappointed, because he does and 
will do all things well. 

I trust you labour for God and souls, not for praise and 
self. When the latter are our aim, God in mercy blesses 
us with barrenness, that we may give up Barabbas, and re- 
lease the humble Jesus, whom we crucify afresh, by setting 
the thief on the throne, and the Lord of glory at our foot- 
stool ; for so do those who preach Christ out of contention, 
or that they may have the praise of men. That God may 
bless you and your labours, is the prayer of 

Your old brother, J. F. 

CLXIV. — TO JAMES IKELAKD, ESQ. 

Madeley, July 19, 1785. 
My Dear Friend, — Blessed be God, we are still alive, and, 
in the midst of many infirmities, we enjoy a degree of health, 
spiritual and bodily. O how good was the Lord, to come 
as Son of man to live here for us, and to come in his Spirit 
to live in us forever ! This is a mystery of godliness. The 
Lord make us full witnesses of it. 

A week ago, I was tried to the quick by a fever with 
which my dear wife was afflicted : two persons whom she 
had visited having been carried off, within a pistol-shot of 
our house, I dreaded her being the third ; but the Lord 
hath heard prayer, and she is spared. what is life ! On 



334 PASTORAL AND FAMILIAR LETTERS. 

what a slender thread hang everlasting things ! My com- 
fort, however, is, that this thread is as strong as the will of 
God, and the word of his grace, which cannot be broken. 
That grace and peace, love and thankful joy, may ever 
attend you, is the wish of 

Your most obliged friends, 

J. and M. F. 



INDEX. 



Abuse of ordinary manifestations Page 36 

how to avoid 37 

consequences of the 38 

Advice, pastoral, to his charge 76, 79, 105-107 

Advocate, the first and second 274 

Afflictions, design of 213 

benefits of 263 

"All things to all men;" meaning of this expression 201 

Anecdotes of Voltaire and Rousseau 294 

Anxiety, a pastor's generous, for his church 101 

Ark, Christ the, of a believer 229 

Believer, body of a, the temple of the Holy Ghost 215 

comfortable motto for a 178 

Jesus the fulness of a 158 

his comfort under disappointments 190 

Believers, born of the will of God only 46 

Christ the life of 15 

impatience of spiritual rest, then* 46 

inheritance of, the 292 

must suffer with Christ 68, 306 

need a divine manifestation 68 

Believer's life described, the 26 

manifestation, nature of the 23 

Bernon, Mr., death of 140 

Brain, Miss, letter to 233 

Brooke, Mr. Henry, letters to 252, 322, 329 

C , Hon. Mrs., letter to , 308 

Calvinism, and death of two believers in 193 

Calvinists and Arminians, pacification of 273 

Canons of the Swiss Reformation, their spirituality.. 124 

Cartwright, Mrs., letter to 83 

Charitv. Christian, its efficacy 291 



336 CONTESTS. 

Children, Mr. Fletcher's pastoral love for Page 127 

Chit-chat, religious, evils of . 185 

Christ the ark of a believer 229 

believers must suffer with 68. 306 

the highway to the Father 181 

the life of believers 15 

the point of unity 279 

Jesus, displays of the Godhead in 2 2 2 

Christianity, the philosophy of 330 

Comforter, the first and second 274 

Controversy, Mr. Fletcher's labours in 264 

Convert, workings of the Spirit in the he ait of a 23 

Converts ; their knowledge of the hope of their calling 16 

Conviction ; its design i 45 

Conyers, Rev. Dr., letter to 290 

Covenant relation, meaning of the : 98 

"Creed for Perfectionists," Mr. Fletcher replies to Hill's 262 

Cross, a worldly, sometimes to be taken up 286 

Death the believer's door-way to the arms of Jesus 225 

of Mr. Bemon, notice of 140 

of two believers in the doctrine of Calvinism 193 

of Miss Hatton, notice of 232 

of a poor collier-boy 239 

reflections on, •236-233 

remarkable, of an opposer of religion . . 210 

of Mr. Walsh, notice of 144 

Discouragements, early, at the church of Madeley 164 

Disappointments, the believer's comfort under 190 

Dolier, Mrs., letter to 321 

Door of faith opened by the Spirit 26 

Dublin, the Society in, letter to 319 

Durness, spiritual, its causes 195 

Edmunds, Daniel, letter to 100 

Essay, Scriptural, on the Astonishing Rewardableness of Works 

of Faith, notice of 253 

on Truth; Mr. Fletcher's reasons for dedicating it to Lady 

Huntingdon 260 

Equal Check to Pharisaism and Antmomianism, notice of. 256, 262 

Experience, the blessed, of the new-bom soul 26 

Eyes of converts, spiritual enlightenment of the 16 

of unbelievers blinded by the god of this world ..... 16 



CONTENTS. 337 

Faith, the door of. opened by the Spirit Page 26 

glimmerings of. not to be rejected 188 

a lively, defined 172 

necessity of its constant exercise 181 

the power of its simplicity 187 

preparatory, necessity of its action 45 

the seal of. indispensable 175 

and spirit, low ebb of, among believers . . 261 

struggles and perseverance in 194 

Works of, notice of Mr. Fletcher's Scriptural Essay on the 

Astonishing Rewardableness of 258 

Fall of man. result of 14 

Feeling, spiritual, Scripture reference to 18 

Fennel, Mr. John, letter to 326 

Fitzgerald, Lady Mary, letters to. .286, 304, 306, 311, 316, 328, 329 

Free-grace the gift and glory of God 208 

Furley, Miss, letter to her and Mrs. Ryan 154 

Glynne, Mrs., letters to 135, 190 

Godhead, displays of the, in Christ Jesus 222 

Grace, the use and application of the means of 44 

free, not of works or merit 47 

Greaves, Rev. Mr., letters to 110, 115, 119, 121 

Greenwood, Mr. and Mrs., letters to 276, 280, 281, 299, 324 

Haller, Baron, his character and piety 303 

Hattou. Mr. S.. letter to 182 

Mrs., letter to 231 

Miss, letters to 174, 180. 181, 184, 185, 186, 195, 198, 200, 

202, 203, 204, 210, 211, 213, 214, 222, 224, 228 

— Miss, her death 232 

Hearing, spiritual, Scriprure references to 17 

the word, instructions for 80 

Heart of a convert, workings of the Spirit in the 28 

Hindrances, worldly, how to surmount 198 

Hope, the companion of patience 182 

Hoping against hope, encouragements to 321 

Home, Mr. Melvill. letter to , . , 332 

Hull and York, letter to the brethren at 301 

Humility, Mr. Fletcher's deep 134, 142, 148, 149, 151 

— — a preservative from difBculties 333 

Huntingdon, Lady, Mr. Fletcher converses with 144 

portion of a letter to _ . 160 

15 



338 



INDEX. 



Huntingdon, Lady. Mr. Fletcher's opinion of Page "235 

* notice of 2S7 

— — dedication of Mr. Fletcher's Essay on Truth, to 260 

Inheritance of believers, the 292 

Intercourse, medium of, between Christ and souls 14 

Ireland. James, Esq., letters to 219. 232, 234. 235, 236. 237. 

243. 244. 255, 257. 259. 263. 268. 269. 270, 275. 277. 293. 

295. 297. 324. 333 

Miss, letters to 216. 239 

Jehu, Mr., letter to 103 

Jesus, the All in all 211 

— — the fulness of the believer 158 

Knowledge, experimental, the operation of the Spirit 44 

saving, the carnal professor's ignorance of 24 

spiritual, clearness of 30 

Leadings of Providence, to be followed 161 

Letter to Miss Brain 233 

the brethren at Hull and York 301 

the brethren in and about Madeley 114 

Mrs. Cart wright 83 

Rev. Dr. Conyers 290 

the Hon. Mrs. C— 308 

the Hon. Mrs. 157 

— — Mr. De Luc, notice of a 314 

Mrs. Dolier 321 

— Mr. J. Fennel 326 

Mrs. Greenwood . . 324 

Mrs. Hatton • 231 

Mr. Samuel Hatton 182 

Mr. Melvffl Home 323 

Lady Huntingdon, portion of a 160 

Mr. Jehu 103 

Mr. A. Mather 208 

Miss 220 

a nobleman 302 

Mr. J. Owen 127 

Mr. C. Perronet 267 

Rev. Vincent Perronet . 273 

Mr. William Perronet 29 J 



INDEX. 



339 



Letter to Mrs. Ryan and Miss Furley . Page 154 

Rev. Mr. Sellon 193 

Rev. D. Simpson 250 

W. Smyth, Esq 317 

the Society in Dublin 319 

Revs. J. and C. Wesley 288 

Rev. Geo. Whitefield 248 

Mr. York and Daniel Edmunds 100 

Mr. 247 

Letters to Mr. H. Brooke.... 252. 322, 329 

Lady M. Fitzgerald 286, 304, 306, 311, 316, 328, 329 

Mrs. Glynne 135, 190 

Rev. Mr. Greaves 110, 115, 119, 121. 123 

Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood 276, 280, 281, 299 

Miss Hatton 174, 180, 181. 184, 185, 186, 195. 198, 200, 

202, 203, 204, 210. 211, 213, 214, 222, 224, 228 
James Ireland. Esq. 219, 232, 234. 235. 236, 237, 243, 

244, 245, 246, 255, 257, 259, 263, 268, 269, 270, 275, 277, 

293, 295, 297, 324, 333 

Miss Ireland 216. 239 

Mr. Onions 85. 95, 116, 130 

his Parishioners 75, 73, 86, 83, 96. 105 

Miss Perronet 274, 278, 305 

the Societies at Madeley 109, 111, 126 

Mrs. Thornton 282, 283, 315, 327 

Mr. Vaughau 171, 194, 254, 264 

Mr. Wase 93, 95, 104, 113, 122. 125. 129 

Rev. C. Wesley 133, 140, 142, 144, 145, 146, 143, 150, 

152. 155, 156, 160, 162, 163, 165, 166. 167, 169, 170, 173, 
177, 178, 183, 191, 261, 262>, 266, 272, 314 

Rev. John Wesley.. 132, 134 

Mr. York 112, 118 

Life of a believer described. 26 

inward and outward, union of the 322 

Lopez, Gregory, his restraint of words in writing and speaking 185 

Love for children, Mr. Fletchers pastoral 127 

divine and brotherly, their union explained 152 

persuasions to Christian 99, 106, 305 

Christian. Mr. Whitefield on . 82 

Madeley, early discouragements in the church at 164 

difficulties with the Papists there... 245. 246 

■ — - increase of opposition at 170 



340 INDEX. 

Madeley, letter to the brethren in and about Page 114 

letters to the societies in and about 109 

note to the societies in the neighbourhood of Ill 

opposition to the labours of Mr. Fletcher by the worldly of 166 

pastoral letters to the church at 75, 78, 86, 88, 96 

restoration of peace at 183 

• troubles at 168 

Man, the natural state of 15 

probationary state of 40 

result of the fall of 14 

the spiritual exercise of his senses 16 

Manifestation, Divine, the believer's need of a 68 

nature of the believer's 23 

to Stephen, his experience of decisive 67 

the reality of the Lord's, after his ascension 69 

to St. Paul, and others, exemplified 70 

Manifestations, carnal, ceased after the ascension 66 

the Lord's, to his people, various designs of 31 

the Lord's, supported by the experience of his people 57 

ordinary and extraordinary, to be properly distinguished. 35 

ordinary, abuse of 36 

peculiar, their object 62 

peculiar, Scriptural exemplifications of 48, 60, 72 

spiritual, increased after the ascension 66 

Marriage, Mr. Fletcher's notices of his 309, 311, 314 

Mather, Mr. A., letter to 208 

Matrimony, Mr. Fletcher's reasons for and against 192 

Means of grace, their use and application 44 

Measures, violent, to be avoided 332 

Ministry, wintsy seasons in the Christian 209 

Missionaries, French, account of some 295 

Motto, a comfortable one for a believer n 178 

Mottoes of St. Paul 300 

Nobleman, letter to a 302 

Note, Mr. Fletcher's, to the brethren at Madeley 128 

Mr. Fletcher's, to the church at Madeley Ill 

Mr. Fletcher's, to the Societies at Madeley Ill 

Onions, Mr., letters to 85, 95, 116, 130 

Opposer of religion, remarkable death of an 210 

Opposition to the labours of Mr. Fletcher at Madeley 166 



INDEX. 



341 



Opposition, increase of, to Mr. Fletcher, at Madeley .... -Page 140 

Owen, Mr. J., letter to 127 

Pacification of Calvinists and Arminians, notice of 273 

Papists at Madeley, difficulties with the 245, 246 

Paraclete, the first and second 274 

Patience, advantages of 123 

the fruit of faith 207 

People, the Lord's, various designs of the manifestations to 31 

Perfection, Mr., Fletcher's notice of his book on 267 

Perronet, Mr. C, letter to 267 

Dr., Mr. Fletcher's friendly physician 119 

— - Miss, letters to 274, 278, 305 

Mr. W., letter to 292 

Rev. V., letter to 273 

Perseverance in faith, encouragements to 195 

final triumph of 202 

Philosophy of Christianity, the 330 

Physician of souls, his methods of treatment 41 

Poem on the praises of God, Mr. Fletcher's notice of his 118 

Popery in France, its fall predicted 289 

Prayer, a believer's, the influence of the Spirit 212 

a pastor's desire for an interest in his people's 78 

union of, in husbands and wives 331 

Preacher, a, to avail himself of all seasonable opportunities 250 

Preparation, early, advantage of, for a future state 216 

Professors, carnal, their ignorance of a saving knowledge 24 

Prohibition of Mr. Fletcher from preaching in the churches at 

Nyon 118 

Providence, the leadings of, to be followed 161 

Recollection, rules for a constant observance of 196 

Reconciliation of Calvinists and Arminians, notice of 273 

Mr. Fletcher's notice of his tract on 290 

References, Scripture, to spiritual feeling 18 

" " " hearing 17 

" " " sight 16 

" " the sense of smell = 18 

" " spiritual taste 18 

Reformation, canons of the Swiss, their spirituality 124 

Regard, Mr. Fletcher's pastoral, for the helpless of his flock 121 

Relation, the covenant, explained 98 

Reproofs of the Spirit, necessity of a regard for 47 



342 



INDEX. 



Revelation of Christ to the soul Page 25 

Revelations of Christ to St. John 71 

Resignation, the soul's improvement by 190 

Resolutions, early, of Mr. Fletcher, to devote himself to the 

service of the Lord 132 

Riches, worldly, not desirable 75 

Rousseau and Voltaire when dying 294 

Ryan, Mrs., letter to her and Miss Furley 154 

Salvation, conditional 1 

promised to all that believe 204 

Seasons, wintry, in the Christian ministry 209 

Self, evils attendant on preaching the same 333 

reduction of 312 

Self-denial, Mr. Fletcher's, in the matter of his church's debt.. 122 

necessity of a continual observance of 184 

Self-knowledge, trials the touchstone of 210 

Self-righteousness, cause of 81 

Sellon, Rev. Mr., letter to 193 

Sensations, spiritual, references to 19 

Senses, exercise of the, in the spiritual man 16 

spiritual, a blessed reality 22 

spiritual, necessity of their existence 22 

Simpson, Rev. D., letter to 250 

Smell, Scripture references to this sense 18 

Smyth, Wm., Esq., letter to 317 

Son of God, his visits to the soul 25 

Soul, the new-born, blessed experience of 26 

the regenerate, its spiritual senses opened 19 

the, revelation of Christ to 25 

the, visits of the Son of God to 25 

Souls, Physician of, Ins methods of treatment 41 

> — — dissipated, their punishment 197 

Spirit, the Holy, opens the door of faith 26 

reproofs of the, necessity of a regard for 47 

workings of the, in the heart of a convert 28 

— - — various operations of the 28 

faith and, low ebb of, among believers 261 

Spiritual dulness, causes of 195 

— — hearing, Scripture references to 17 

knowledge, clearness of 30 

rest, the believer's impatience of 46 

sight, Scripture references to 16 



INDEX, 



343 



Success, gradual, Mr. Fletcher's, in the church at Madeley .Page 164 



Suffer with Christ, believers must 68, 306 

St. John, revelations of Christ to 71 

St. Paul, the Lord's manifestations to him and others 70 

Stephen, his experience of the Lord's manifestation 67 

Swiss clergy, 1780, Mr. Fletcher's observations on 124 

Taste, spiritual, Scripture reference to 18 

Temple of the Holy Ghost, a believer's body the 215 

Thornton, Mrs., letters to 282, 283, 315, 327 

Thoughts, regulation and discipline of the 105 

Triumph, final, of perseverance in faith 202 

Truth, Essay on, Mr. Fletcher's reasons for dedicating the same 

to Lady Huntingdon 260 



Unbelief; its cause 81 

power of, till subdued by grace 194 

Unbelievers ; their state by nature 15 

Unity, Christ the point of 279 

Urim and Thummim, the Lord the believer's 247 



Vaughan, Mr., letters to 171, 194, 254, 264 

Violent measures, to be avoided 332 

Visitation-sermon, Mr. Fletcher replies to a 165 

Voltaire and Rousseau, when dying _. 294 

Walsh, Mr., death of 144 

Wants ; how to be regarded 332 

Warnings ; how to be improved 332 

Wase, Mr., letters to 93, 95, 104, 113, 122, 125, 129 

Wesley Rev. Messrs , letter to.. 288 

Charles, letters to 138, 140, 142, 144, 145, 146, 148, 150, 

152, 155, 156, 160, 162, 163, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170, 173, 

177, 178, 183, 191, 261, 262, 266, 272, 314 

John, letters to 132, 134 

Whitefield, Rev. G., letter to 248 

Rev. G., on Christian love 82 

Window-tax, shameful evil of the 325 

Word, instructions for hearing the 80 

York, Mr., letters to 100, 112, 118, 126 

and Hull, letter to the brethren at 301 



H 132 ,82 f 





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